PETA India urges Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli to stop mass animal sacrifice at Gadhimai Festival, warning of public health risks and potential pandemics | File Photo
Mumbai: Ahead of the Gadhimai Festival slated to be held between December 7 and 9, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India wrote to the Prime Minister of Nepal, Shri KP Sharma Oli, urging decisive action to stop the massacre of thousands of animals at the world’s largest animal sacrifice festival.
PETA India has also written to Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar urging vigilance at the border to stop Indian animals from being crossed over to Nepal.
The Free Press Journal has earlier reported about Gadhimai Festival in Nepal’s Bara district which is also known as the world’s largest animal sacrifice festival where lakhs of animals including buffaloes, goats, pigeons and others are sacrificed for religious beliefs.
The FPJ had campaigned against this practice and has reported about the animal rights activists and non-government organisations stepping up to demand an end to the cruelty against animals.
The event has drawn widespread international criticism for its inhumane practices, grave public health risks, and environmental damage. PETA India has also warned the Nepal PM and Bihar CM that the transport, holding and slaughter of difference species of animals together could result in another pandemic.
Dr Kiran Ahuja, manager of vegan projects at PETA India, said, “Mass animal sacrifice must be stopped for the animals’ sake, but also for our sake. With bodily fluids of different species flowing into the streets, conditions are ripe for the transmission and breeding of diseases that can be deadly to humans. It is imperative that we learn from the COVID-19 pandemic, largely thought to have first transmitted to humans from a live animal meat market.”
PETA India, through its letters, warned that the mass animal sacrifice is also a looming threat of H5N1 bird flu spreading in chickens, cows and other animals, including humans, in which it has a 60% mortality rate. Crowded live-animal and slaughter settings create a breeding ground for pathogens to mutate and jump species, triggering potential pandemics, said PETA India.
