(NP) Stop world's largest animal killing fair in Nepal: Activists

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Stop world's largest animal killing fair in Nepal: Activists

 

Kathmandu, Nov 1 (IANS) Campaigners cutting across different religions Sunday

asked the Nepal government to stop a prominent religious fair in the Terai

plains where at least 500,000 animals and birds will be sacrificed at the end of

this month.

'By perpetuating such a mass massacre in the name of religion, culture and

tradition in the 21st century, we are projecting Nepal as a barbaric country,'

said Pramada Shah, whose Animal Welfare Network Nepal is campaigning with animal

rights organisations in Nepal, India and the West to pressure Prime Minister

Madhav Kumar Nepal into stopping the Gadhimai Fair.

The fair is held every five years at Bara district in southern Nepal and sees

Hindus assembling from Nepal and India to sacrifice birds and animals for two

days in the hope their prayers will be granted.

It is the world's biggest wanton killing of birds and beasts with the carcasses

not allowed to be consumed but either being buried or lying in the open in pools

of blood for months.

Govinda Tandon, whose Stop Animal Sacrifices Alliance is taking part in the

campaign, projected a horrifying picture of the killings.

'There are rivers of blood for months with carcasses lying everywhere,' he said.

'The grounds are dominated by vultures while the stench makes life miserable for

people living nearby. The only people who benefit are the skin traders who come

and bid for the pelts.'

A petition signed by over 2,000 people is asking the prime minister to stop the

killings, which they say are not condoned by any religion.

The campaigners are being supported by Indian animal rights organisations like

People for Animals, Peta India and Beauty without Cruelty.

Noted animal rights activist and Indian MP Maneka Gandhi as well as the Brigitte

Bardot Foundation founded by the celebrated French actress have also joined the

campaign.

'Many people in Nepal and the subcontinent are concerned about this sacrifice,'

Gandhi wrote in her letter to the Nepal prime minister. 'Your government has

taken so many humane steps - banning the export of monkeys, for instance.

'Since you have introduced the Meat Act, which makes the humane killing of

animals mandatory, these acts during the Gadhimai Festival would be illegal.'

The campaigners are hoping that Maneka Gandhi will arrive in Nepal to throw

greater weight behind the campaign.

Even government officials are urging for state intervention, pointing out the

fallouts of such mass killings.

'During the 1995 fair, the PPR (peste des petits ruminants), a disease found

among sheep and goats, entered Nepal and created havoc,' said Prabhakar Pathak,

director-general at the state department of animal livestock services.

'The government has spent millions of rupees to stop the spread of the disease

but it has pervaded all the 75 districts, including the Himalayan regions.'

Pathak said most of the animals meant for sacrifice are brought illegally from

across India, bypassing quarantine posts and regulations.

'There is a high danger of bird flu as well as brucellosis, which can be

contracted by humans and causes sterility,' he said.

However, the priests at the Gadhimai Temple and the organisers have vowed not to

stop the killings, saying it was a religious necessity. They have also said this

year at least 500,000 birds and animals will be killed, including 25,000

buffalos.

The campaign against the killings has received support from Nepal's 'Buddha

Boy', the teenager in Bara district who became known worldwide four years ago

when he began meditating in the forest, reportedly without food and water.

'Ram Bahadur Bomjan, who has been meditating in Bara for nearly five years now,

is disturbed at the thought of such mass killings in the neighbourhood,' said

D.B. Bomjan, a prominent Buddhist banker who is part of the committee formed to

facilitate the boy's meditation.

'He has appealed to the administration of Bara and the temple authorities to

stop the killings. He will also ask the pilgrims arriving at the fair not to go

ahead with the sacrifices.

'In the past, we had the tradition of the sati,' said Shah. 'But that was

stopped. We are not against religion or tradition, only blind superstition.'

 

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Thank you for your compassion !

With best regards,

Debasis Chakrabarti

Compassionate Crusaders Trust

http://www.animalcrusaders.org