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.”
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