NP: Images of Gadhimai 'festival' - WARNING: IMAGES ARE VERY DISTURBING

[Guest guest]

The images of Gadhimai Carnage can be viewed at

http://www.animalnepal.org/photos.htm

 

A few have been published on www.gadimai.blogspot.com

 

On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 12:20 PM, lucia de vries <luciadevrieswrote:

 

> Dear all,

>

> Images speak a thousand words. Especially in the case of extreme cruelty.

> The images you find attached are very disturbing. You as an animal welfare

> campaigner must decide what you want to do with them. You can delete the

> images immediately, or use them in your efforts to help stop the world's

> largest animal sacrifice at Gadhimai 'festival' in Bara district, Nepal.

>

> When we started the campaign against Gadhimai we hardly had any images. The

> ones we had were of poor quality, which made it hard to convey the level of

> cruelty involved. This time we have observed the festival at close hand. We

> decided to photograph and film the horrendous cruelty taking place there so

> that the world could never say: 'we didn't know it was THAT bad'. Our team

> has gone through tremendous physical and emotional effort to bear witness.

> Please regard these images in that light.

>

> If you publish the images please credit Bibi Funyal where the captin reads

> Bibi, and credit Animal Welfare Network Nepal for all others. In

> return please send a donation according to your financial abilities to

> support the Gadhimai Campaign. You find the bank details at

> http://animalnepal.org/donations.htm When you send money please mention

> 'Animal Welfare Network Nepal'. If you like to partner in our upcoming

> 5-year grassroots campaign, feel free to contact us.

>

> *Background info to the images:*

>

> - An estimated 16,000 water buffaloes were killed in total. Many were

> publicly beheaded by 250 licensed butchers in an arena. Visitors were

> allowed by paying Rs 25. The animals were not tethered and not held by

> anyone. The remaining buffaloes were killed individually, somewhere in a 3

> km radius around the temple by anyone wanting to do so.

> - Over 50,000 goats were killed by individual devotees at any place and by

> any means in the vicinity of the temple.

> - An unknown others kinds of animals such as sheep, pigs, rats, pigeons,

> chicken, et cetera were killed similarly. The piglet showed in the photos is

> being killed with a simple household knife.

> - The animals were not given food or water since 2/3 days. Some had already

> died before the killings started; their bodies were simply left with the

> living

> -The killings were promoted and presented as a spectacle - many butchers

> and onlookers were actually laughing during it all. One butcher, Ramlal

> Mahato, is quoted as saying: 'The more animals I kill, the more satisfied I

> feel. I am helping an ancient tradition to survive.'

>

>

> We can only hope that images such as these will ensure that the Gadhimai

> killings will NEVER EVER happen again.

>

> Animal Welfare Network Nepal

> www.gadimai.blogspot.com

> www.awnnepal.blogspot.com

>

>

>

>

> --

> Lucia de Vries

> Freelance Journalist

> Nepal - Netherlands

>

 

 

 

--

Lucia de Vries

Freelance Journalist

Nepal - Netherlands