(IN) Animal Sacrifice in Andhra Pradesh

[Guest guest]

My dear friends,

 

I must record that the animal sacrifices in India is not far off that what is

now happening in Nepal or even higher incidents here in Andhra Pradesh than

anywhere else.

 

We just rescued one puppy from being sacrificed in the Kali temple. The matter

was raised by a senior lawyer who questioned our claim and rescue and said that

it was a practice and a precedent and part of culture. She had it in the media

campaign. However, we strongly refuted her claim and had the temple totally

stop this gruesome incident.

 

But again there are many large scale animal sacrifices everywhere in India with

the pretext of every kind of religious ceremony. It extends to snakes and

other kind of wild animals.

 

The worst of this is our part of the country with the best of animal laws and

rules the animal sacrifices are still happening throughout the year. During

October or November it is due to Dusserra and Kali festival. During the months

of January to April it is due to harvest season. And then there are many

different kind of " jataras " throughout the year. The list is endless.

 

The form of sacrifices are extreme sadism. To narrate one --- a piglet is

brought down backwards pierced down from the spear fixed to the ground and

slowly brought down to the ground. The higher the pitch of the animal screams

the better they say it is for their village and harvest.

 

There is a temple that has boundaries with six feet height. Animals are

sacrificed until the level of blood reaches the height.

 

Andhra Pradesh is the largest perpetrator of these crimes but is all over India

and more in the rural area. We have been trying all forms from education,

lobbying and now legal means. We aim to stop some major events. One of them is

at Durajpally, Warangal where the " priest " has to bite the throat of a young

goat with one bite.

 

It is of course very dangerous as everybody is aware of our aims; this makes us

very difficult to bring a change very soon. Peela Ramakrishna the renowned

animal sacrifice crusader for more than 40 years had a very close call when he

was dragged by his hair to be crucified when the police patrol came to save him.

 

What I am trying to say that India has a very close neighbour with Nepal and our

influence is there. India is setting an example. Therefore, our campaign has to

start from our home. Our report is below and we will post this and photos to

our web site shortly.

 

Best, Pradeep.

Animal Sacrifices for Religious Purposes:

 

We consider the Ayoodha pooja on the occasion of Dussera ever year (falling in

mid-October in 2007) as the Mother of all sacrifices when millions of animals

are sacrificed in the name of religion.

 

 

We fail to understand where is the necessity that animals should be judged as to

be sacrificed. To our knowledge it is not written in the religion, therefore

morally, ethically and religiously, this is wrong.

 

 

Over the years we have been trying to pursue the authorities and devotees to

stop such gruesome activities and we continue to do so this year. Probably this

issue could also be take to the court for legal justice, which is the violation

of Andhra Pradesh Birds and Animals Sacrifice Act.

 

 

It is indeed a very difficult and sensitive issue as we have realized during our

campaigns to stop the cobra from being tortured to death on the occasion of

Nagalachavathi. See our link to this at:

http://www.visakhaspca.com /snake_victory.php

 

 

 

 

 

This is nothing new to the authorities but the most unfortunate fact is that,

being a sensitized religious issue, there is much political association that

makes it all the more risky to save the animals. It is not at all a happy

situation for any one with a little bit of heart to observe that situation from

transportation to the slaughtering. One can witness the entire city and probably

entire State flooded and painted and smeared with the blood of the animals. The

roads, street corners, public places and important areas also colored with “red "

as lakhs of animals are sacrificed.

 

 

 

 

So many sheep are being slaughtered for the " festival " in public and in front of

children, and out of 10 streets it was happening in 7 of them! The

slaughtering of pigs is especially cruel as there is no method of stunning but

simply hitting and beating to death. In some places the people did not allowed

us to take photos and videos.

 

We will appeal in an update to be posted through our website to stop this

madness by with an awareness education campaign. We plan to appeal to the High

Court.

 

Pradeep Kumar Nath

www.visakhaspca.org