Nepal – After the Massacre

More than 200,000 buffaloes, goats, chickens and pigeons were killed over two days at a temple in the Bara district, about 100 miles south of Kathmandu, to honour the Hindu goddess Gadhimai.The bloodbath begun after the chief priest offered panchabali   thereby formally inaugurating the festival during which some 300,000 animals and birds were to be slaughtered over two days. It was widely reported that the festival organisers had  attempted a world record of 500,000 sacrifices this year. Imagining thousands of headless writhing animals in one place would send shiver down the spine of any person. While many of the men were found to be doing the slaughter for the money, many others were simply killing time. A large crowd had gathered around the site to watch the killings. The scene was like a battlefield because of the screaming of the men. A swordsmen  said that they enjoyed the sacrifices. “The more animals I kill, the more satisfied I feel,” Ramlal Mahato said. He added that he has taken to this practice to give continuity to an age-old tradition.
According to the campaigners the ‘buffalo carnage’ was a traumatizing event for any sensitive person. Manoj Gautam: ‘Thousands of buffaloes were standing in an enclosure when butchers holding swords started hacking randomly at the animals. Some heads could be severed in one cut; in other cases it took the butchers a long time to kill the buffalo. No one was holding the animals – many tried to escape. Baby buffaloes were bleating and searching for their mothers. Soon they were walking around in a pool of blood. They were hunted down by the butchers. Needless to say, not a single animal survived the blood bath. The animals were forced to witness the killing of countless other animals before their turn came, including the killing of mother animals in front of their siblings.

“The public beheading of some 16.000 water buffaloes ranks ‘among the worst examples of animal cruelty in the world”

Countless children bore witness to the inhumane public sacrifices. This shows that the organizers and the State have violated Nepal’s commitments towards ensuring Child Rights. It is widely known that violence begets more violence. People who commit violence on animals early in their lives are likely to commit violent crimes against other people when they grow up.

An interesting thought  : “How many turkeys are being killed for thanksgiving this week all over US and Canada? it´s definitely much more than 200,000, and likely in tens of millions. Yet, if we think about it, aren’t the daily sufferings and killings of thousands of chickens, calves, pigs and cows in the hidden corporate slaughterhouses near our homes as cruel and hence should be condemned with as much vigour? Yes they are! But we don’t. We are used to them. When we buy meat the supermarket we try to ignore the suffering those poor animals went through….. by the millions every single day. It now takes a massacre the magnitude of Gadhimai for the brutality of animal sacrifice to hit home.”

 

Nepal - The Gadhimai Jatra festival bloodbath

Humane Society International is working with Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (KAT) and Animal Nepal, to prevent this reckless animal cruelty before the festival takes place November 24 & 25.

Every five years, hundreds of men are licensed to kill buffalo, pigs, chickens, rats, goats, and pigeons, receiving a fee for each animal they take. Cruelly, the animals are chased and hacked to death with knives in a competition to kill as many as possible within two days. According to Animal Welfare Network Nepal, the real beneficiaries are the festival organizers and business community, who drive up prices for animals in the lead up to the festival and then pressure local people to contribute livestock to the event.

Animal advocates are asking that the community provide fruits and vegetables instead of animals for the festival. KAT and Animal Nepal are organizing a counter-campaign of peaceful meditation, and together we are petitioning the government, which has reportedly paid for an enclosure to hold thousands of buffalo ahead of the event, to stop the slaughter.

Ask Nepal to cancel the Gadhimai Jatra festival bloodbath.

Help Humane Society International and take action now before the event starts on Tuesday!

 

More info:  http://gadimai.blogspot.com

If you have stomach watch these videos:

 

**********************************************************************************This is an article written by a witness:

Beastly instincts

JAGDISH AAROHI

“Twenty years ago, I first visited Gadhimai Jatra, a festival that is held every five years in my native Bara district. I was interested in photography and wanted to take some good pictures of Nepal’s indigenous culture. I did not fulfill my mission. Instead, I became a tireless campaigner for the abolishment of animal sacrifice.
I was not born a campaigner. I was born in Kalaiya, headquarters of Bara, in a vegetarian, quiet, middle-class farming family. I mainly worked as a farmer but enjoyed doing a little bit of social work in my free time. I never thought I would be the one to carry placards and distribute leaflet to devotees at the world’s largest killing fields of sacrificial beasts.

The first thing I witnessed at Gadhimai was the killing of five different kinds of animals as in panchabali: Buffaloes, goats, pigs, roosters and rats. The animals’ throats are slit with a knife. It is not done quickly. The animals die a slow and extremely cruel, violent death while the priests sprinkle the blood across the image of the deity and its surroundings. Legend has it that the longer it takes for the animal to die, the happier the goddess will be.
The whole affair stunned and nauseated me. I never knew that such kind of cruelty existed. But the worst was yet to come. Right after the completion of panchabali sacrifice comes the buffaloes’ turn. Drunken slaughterers—they are made to drink as a sane person cannot do such a task—enter the fenced yard where around 20,000 buffaloes are kept. Wielding swords, axe and khukuris, the men start randomly hacking the buffaloes’ necks.
The sword-bearers cannot chop off the buffaloes´ heads at one go because of the thick size of its necks. To make their task easier, the hackers first cut the buffaloes’ hind legs after which the animal falls on the ground. They then start hacking the neck until the head is separated from the body. It takes 20 to 25 swing of the sword to annihilate a big buffalo. The suffering the animals go through is unimaginable.
After witnessing the Gadhimai carnage, I started having terrible nightmares. I would see blood wherever I turned to look.
After I regained my senses, I vowed to campaign against such killings at all cost. Come what may, I would not give up. True to my vow, I have been campaigning and voluntarily working to improve the conditions of animals for the past 15 years.
If the Gadhimai organizers have their way, one can encounter the horrendous scenes on November 24 and 25. This time, the organizers want to set a world record by killing half a million animals. The unfortunate animals will include 20,000 buffaloes, goats, pigs, chickens, ducks and pigeons as well as mice and rats. According to the rules of the Gadhimai festival, all creatures that are brought here must be killed within two days.
The last Gadhimai festival held in 2004 saw 20,000 buffaloes sacrificed. Interestingly, the Gadhimai committee keeps the record of the number of sacrificial buffaloes because the devotees have to pay to get their animals beheaded. This year, the committee expects this number to cross the 25,000 mark. The committee, however, does not keep records of other animals or birds because of the sheer overwhelming numbers.
No sane person can endure such barbaric killings. But that is not all. Three to four days after the massacre, people start fleeing the Gadhimai venue because of the nauseating smell that starts to emit. Cars, rickshaws and cyclist start taking alternative routes. It is the people living in nearby localities who suffer the most. While the temple area turns into a breeding ground for disease, many fall sick. It takes months for the smell to go away.
I think there is hardly any other country that can be compared with Nepal when it comes to gruesome killings and bloodshed of animals. The extreme cruelty has been going on unabated. There are many other smaller-scale festivals like Gadhimai where panchabali and mass sacrifice is practiced. These are not even reported in the media.
The government’s apathy towards activists’ repeated pleas to stop animal sacrifice comes at a time when Nepal faces outbreak of diseases like swine and bird flu. Only recently, tens of thousands of chickens and ducks were culled in eastern Nepal because of bird flu. What’s more, Gadhimai’s gathering of over two million people itself can invite looming pandemics. Considering the lack of public health and sanitation facilities at the venue, a national calamity could be imminent.
Why is the civil society keeping mum about the issue? Where are the role models who stop animal sacrifice in their own family, clan or neighborhood? Should we let our leaders get away by letting them say: ‘Gadhimai is too sensitive an issue to address’?
Animals cannot speak for themselves. Until now, it has been the priests speaking for them: Bring more, kill more animals. Few seem to realize that the Gadhimai organizers plan to raise millions through tenders and beheading fees. Animal sacrifice is a big business. For how long will we remain mute and let this inhuman killings in the name of religion continue?”

Published on Myrepublica.com

The Raw Truth About Milk

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Michael Pollan - The Omnivore's Dilemma; A Natural History of Four Meals (2006)

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Korea Dog’s Meat Trade

Pet dog populations are on the rise in the dog markets

Selling dog meat has been illegal in South Korea since 1984; however, dog farms still exist and some people still eat dog meat. The primary dog breed raised for meat, the nureongi, differs from those breeds raised for pets which Koreans may keep in their homes. Dog meat manufacturing and processing were outlawed,  but the order is sometimes ignored. Even though a fair number of Koreans (anywhere from 5 to 30%) have tried it before, only a small percentage of the population eats it regularly. There is a large and vocal group of Korean people that are against the practice of eating dog meat.  There is also a large population of people in South Korea that do not eat or enjoy the meat, but do feel strongly that it is the right of others to do so.

The Koreans who eat these poor dogs, take great delight in watching the poor animals die, wagging their tails in a last moment's desperate, but futile plea for mercy. It is believed the more the dog suffers in death, the better tasting the meat! You better believe it, they know how to make it prolonged and painful.  Slow hanging and burning the hair off with propane torches is common practise. Cats receive equal treatment, shoved into sacs which are then smashed against brick walls until the poor animals are pulverized. Then they are liquified in blender machines and sold as drinks.

About 20% of all dogs in the meat markets these days are not farm-raised. The farm-raised dogs have been brought up in atrocious conditions and great suffering, often already infected with various transmittable diseases by the time they would arrive at market. The disturbing trend of pet dogs in the meat markets has been on the rise in tragic parallel with the increase in popularity of pet dogs. Pet owners should have a greater sense of responsibility, now that it has been seen the evidence that their abandoned pets end up here.

We are dog lovers, and we just want this slaughter stopped. Many Koreans have told  they want it stopped too, Saying that "they are ashamed and embarrassed".

TRAFFICI DI ANIMALI

Da parecchi anni si perpetrano movimenti di animali domestici, in particolar modo cani e gatti, verso paesi del nord Europa sopratutto Germania, Svizzera e Austria. Sedicenti zoofili adottano parecchi cani per volta dai canili pubblici e privati e anche cani di proprietà incustoditi spariscono per poi non essere mai più ritrovati. In casi documentati, i cani spariti sono stati rinvenuti narcotizzati in furgoni fermati dalle forze dell'ordine. Vi chiediamo di leggere la lettera aperta del comitato "Segugio 281" costituitosi per la tutela degli
animali d'affezione all'interno della Comunità Europea.

ATTENZIONE:
• non lasciate mai animali incustoditi, anche per breve tempo, legati fuori da negozi o grandi magazzini
• non lasciate mai animali soli in auto
• non affidate cucciolate a sconosciuti che promettono di sistemarli
• non affidate cani sulla parola: se siete volontari di canili o rifugi, fate compilare appositi moduli d'affido con clausole di assoluto controllo: dovete sempre avere la possibilità di rintracciare e contattare gli affidatari
• non affidate mai animali temporaneamente: le adozioni temporanee non offrono alcuna garanzia di sicurezza all’animale che necessità di una stabilità in senso definitivo presso una famiglia affidabile
• non affidate mai animali via internet
• non affidate mai animali lontano dal vostro territorio: di tanti animali affidati da un capo all’altro del Paese se ne sono perse le tracce. Sono ovunque i prestanome che si presentano per ottenere animali che spariscono poi nel…nulla.
• non fidatevi di veterinari che, con la scusa di prestazioni gratuite, prelevano animali

Questi traffici si stanno sempre più intensificando e purtroppo sono tanti quelli che in buonafede credono alle belle parole dei trafficanti e sono anche tanti quelli che purtroppo non conoscono questa grande piaga che da anni investe il mondo degli animali.
Leggete tutto e diffondete.
Questi animali vengono prelevati dai canili con la compiacenza dei gestori o rubati da proprietà o dalle auto.  I trafficanti si servono anche di prestanome per entrare in possesso del maggior numero di cani, gatti, conigli ecc...ecc......da esportare.
Non lasciate mai i vostri animali incustoditi, non affidate animali on-line o attraverso annunci su giornali. Cercate sempre di fare affidi nel vostro territorio affinchè possiate sempre controllare nel tempo lo stato dell'animale.
Diffidate da chi si dichiara disponibile ad aiutarvi nella sistemazione di animali.
I trafficanti si nascondono in ogni dove.

I volontari dichiarano guerra alla deportazione dei randagi in tutta Italia .

 La spiegazione ufficiale è che partono perché sono stati adottati a distanza da una famiglia.

Dalle strutture pubbliche della Puglia vengono prelevati almeno duecento animali al mese 

Secondo la denuncia volontari della sezione leccese della Lega nazionale difesa del cane , dai canili pubblici della Puglia vengono prelevati e trasportati in Germania almeno duecento cani al mese. "Ufficialmente partono perché sono stati adottati a distanza da una famiglia - spiega la presidentessa della sezione di Lecce, Maria Teresa Corsi - ma noi abbiamo seri sospetti che, in realtà, una volta in Germania, diventino cavie utilizzate dalle aziende farmaceutiche". L´ultimo viaggio per la Germania è partito subito dopo Pasqua, ma gli animalisti sono stati informati troppo tardi per poter intervenire.
Fermare questo traffico non è facile: la lotta della sezione leccese della Lega nazionale per la difesa del cane è stata appoggiata solo da una cellula toscana di "Uomo, natura, animali". Il grosso del volontariato animalista, infatti, gestisce direttamente i canili comunali pugliesi accusati di strizzare l´occhio alla vivisezione dei loro ospiti. E non ha sottoscritto questa campagna. Due anni fa, la polizia bloccò un grosso camion che avrebbe dovuto trasportare decine di randagi dal canile di Galatone, in provincia di Lecce, a Stoccarda. La notizia, complice un servizio di Striscia la notizia, fece il giro d´Italia. Dopo pochi mesi ci fu un altro sequestro di un bastimento di randagi, a Leporano, in provincia di Taranto. Poi più nulla. Dell´inchiesta della magistratura leccese, tuttora in corso, è trapelato solo che alcune delle persone indicate come possibili destinatari dei cani sono risultati defunti da anni.
Ma, passato il clamore mediatico, i traffici di randagi sono ripresi al ritmo di un viaggio al mese: i canili pubblici delle province di Brindisi, Lecce e Taranto sono quelli che hanno lasciato partire più cani. Ciò non avviene nelle città che, come Bari, non avendo un canile comunale, affidano i randagi alle cure di una ditta privata. Chi riceve un indennizzo giornaliero per ogni animale mantenuto non lascia andare via i cani. "Ma i canili comunali che esportano randagi - accusa la Corso - in cambio ricevono in omaggio pacchi di mangimi e medicinali veterinari delle migliori marche. Se, come dicono gli autotrasportatori fermati dalla polizia, su questi cani non c´è profitto, perché arrivano questi doni dalla Germania? Chi paga le spese di trasporto?"

VIRGILIO NOTIZIE

9 FEBBRAIO 2009

Animali/ Nel 2007 esportati clandestinamente 150.000 cani

Destinati a laboratori di vivisezione e sperimentazione animale

Milano - Sono almeno 150.000 i cani che nel 2007 sono stati esportati clandestinamente fuori dall´Italia destinati molto probabilmente ai laboratori di vivisezione e di sperimentazione animale, ma anche molto probabilmente all´industria della trasformazione alimentare abusiva nei paesi balcanici e nei paesi dell´ex Unione sovietica o dell´Asia per la realizzazione di cibo per animali. Ma non solo queste sono i destini crudeli riservati ai cani vittime di un vero e proprio racket che si contrappone per numeri a quello delle importazioni clandestine di cuccioli che provengono dall´Est Europa. In particolare per alcune razze pregiate di cani da caccia o da tartufo esiste una vera e propria tratta, in questo caso si tratta solo di alcune centinaia di esemplari all´anno (in prevalenza cuccioli) che vengono venduti clandestinamente negli altri paesi, con la scusa delle adozioni private, mentre esiste una tratta anche tutta it aliana per queste razze pregiate di cani, in buona parte rapiti in regioni come la Toscana per poi essere immessi attraverso venditori abusivi compiacenti sul mercato nazionale dei cani di razza pregiata. I dati sono contenuti nel dossier che l´Associazione italiana difesa animali e ambiente sta predisponendo e che sarà consegnato nei prossimi giorni alle autorità competenti. I dati sono desunti dalle denunce ricevute dagli sportelli online e dal telefono amico dell´associazione animalista Aidaa come dai dati contenuti nelle denuncie presentate nel corso del 2007. A questi numeri impressionanti per i quali il giro di affari supera abbondantemente i 30 milioni di euro, bisogna aggiungere gli oltre 25.000 cani che ogni anno vengono usati dal racket delle elemosine, gestito principalmente dai gruppi malavitosi rom o comunque provenienti in prevalenza dalla Romania che oltre ai cani coinvolge migliaia di anziani e bambini costretti a elemosinare sulle strade de lle città e dei borghi italiani. Un'attività che frutterebbe secondo una stima dell´Aidaa almeno 95 milioni di euro l´anno. Infine occorre aggiungere almeno altri 4.000 cani di proprietà per i quali è stato denunciato il furto nel 2007 e per i quali non si è più saputo niente. "Sono numeri alti perché i cani da esportare sono un affare di diverse decine di milioni di euro sul quale è indispensabile alzare al più presto il velo, denunciandone senza paura le connivenze".

ANSA AMBIENTE

9 FEBBRAIO 2009

TRATTA DEI CANI, 150 MILA OGNI ANNO DALL'ITALIA

ROMA - Ogni anno vengono esportati clandestinamente dall'Italia almeno 150 mila cani. Vanno perloppiu' destinati a un destino crudele: i laboratori di vivisezione o le industrie che producono abusivamente cibo per animali. La denuncia e' contenuta in un dossier che l'Associazione italiana difesa animali e ambiente (Aidaa) sta preparando e che verra' consegnato nei prossimi giorni alle autorita' competenti. Esiste anche una tratta all'inverso, dall'estero verso l'Italia, che riguarda ogni anno solo alcune centinaia di cani pregiati, di razza o da tartufo, che vengono immessi sul mercato attraverso l'espediente di false adozioni private all'estero. I dati contenuti nel documento sono ricavati dalle segnalazioni ricevute nel 2007 direttamente dall'Aidaa e dalle denunce presentate nello stesso anno a polizia e carabinieri. E' un traffico di cani che provengono in particolare dalle regioni del sud d'Italia, vengono avviati clandestinamente a nord, raccolti in rifugi abusivi, e poi mandati ai laboratori che li ordinano. Un giro d'affari che, secondo l'Aidaa, supera abbondantemente i 30 milioni di euro l'anno.

CITY

Martedì 10 febbraio 2009

CANI 150MILA ALL'ESTERO ILLEGALMENTE

Sono almeno 150mila i cani che nel 2007 sono stati esportati illegalmente all'estero "destinati ai laboratori di vivisezione e sperimentazione". L'allarme è dell'Associazione italiana difesa animali e ambiente. Nel frattempo fioccano le domande di adozione per i 100 cuccioli sequestrati giovedì a S. Giuliano. La Forestale ha sottolineato che dietro ci devono essere persone motivate, visto che gli animali hanno 40-50 giorni di vita.

 

 

 

 

EU Announces Strict Ban on Dog and Cat Fur Imports and Exports

 Many people wish that all the chinese that lives on that disgusting trade will all die of hunger and with terrible suffering just like the dogs and cats they are skinning alive.

On January 1st, 2009 has become effective the European Union ban on the import, export and trade of cat and dog fur .

The ban, spurred by international outrage about images of dogs and cats being callously killed for their fur, was passed by a unanimous vote of the European Parliament on June 19, 2007.

Italy, Denmark, Belgium, France and Greece individually banned dog and cat fur a few years ago, sparking a wave of public pressure for an EU-wide prohibition. In December 2005, EU Commissioner Markos Kyprianou pledged to ban dog and cat fur. A massive letter-writing campaign and petition drive followed, placing pressure on the EU to act quickly. The European Union currently has 27 members and several more in consideration for membership.

"Every year, the fur of millions of cats and dogs in China and other parts of Asia is made into garments and exported for sale in other countries," said Mark Glover, director of Humane Society International in the United Kingdom. "The ban will ensure that EU citizens are not unknowingly contributing to this gruesome and cruel practice."

In the late 1990s, Humane Society International and The HSUS conducted an 18-month investigation into China's fur industry. Evidence was obtained that the fur of dogs and cats were used to make garments that were exported to foreign markets. Investigators captured unsettling images that included a German shepherd dog being skinned alive in public view and cats being slowly strangled to death in front of their terrified cagemates.

HSI/HSUS investigators found garments made with dog or cat fur on sale in Australia, Europe and the United States; these were often falsely labeled (as other animals or even as "fake fur") likely because consumers would refuse to purchase the fur of companion animals.

The import, export and sale of dog and cat fur was banned in the United States in 2000 as a result of the undercover HSI/HSUS investigations, and Australia followed with its own ban shortly thereafter.

In China, a country which has no animal welfare laws, dogs, cats, raccoon dogs and other animals are openly and legally slaughtered often in cruel ways. China is the largest exporter of fur in the world.  By closing foreign markets for dog and cat fur, Chinese fur businesses will have fewer places to market their products.

It is hoped that this ban will push the Chinese authorities to initiate strong animal welfare laws and tough enforcement.

Source: HSUS