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

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**********************************************************************************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