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Nepal devotees slaughtered an estimated 200,000 animals during a recent festival in Nepal, organisers said yesterday, attributing a sharp fall in numbers to Indian export restrictions. |
Some 2.5mn people from India and Nepal sacrificed buffaloes, goats and pigeons during a centuries-old ritual on Friday and Saturday, despite mounting pressure from activists.
The ritual is held every five years.
In 2009 an estimated 300,000 animals had their heads chopped off or throats slit at the Gadhimai festival, held in the remote village of Bariyapur near the Nepal-India border.
This year, however, a ban on Gadhimai-related animal exports by the Indian Supreme Court provoked police to patrol the border and stop people from taking buffalo and goats across.
“Many devotees were unable to cross the border with animals for sacrifice because of the Indian court order,” said Moti Lal Kasuhawa, secretary of the festival organising committee.
“As a result, we saw a considerable decrease in the number of sacrifices this year,” Kasuhawa said.
Animal rights activists applauded the court decision and said they would press on with efforts to ban the slaughter in Nepal.
“Our aim is to completely stop religious animal sacrifices. The Indian ban helped, but we need the Nepalese government to end this barbaric ritual,” said Manoj Gautam, president of Animal Nepal Welfare Network.
The campaign to ban the festival has attracted support from celebrities including British actress Joanna Lumley and French movie legend Brigitte Bardot, who has petitioned Nepal’s president to end the “cruel tradition”.
