Gadhimai Festival: In Nepal, thousands of animals sacrificed despite outcry

The Gadhimai Festival in Bara, Nepal, is believed to be the largest such mass-slaughter event in the world

In 2016, Nepal’s Supreme Court said it should be prohibited, but the festival continued this year regardless

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Volunteers move a dead buffalo as others are kept in holding pens before being sacrificed during the Gadhimai festival in Bariyarpur in Bara district, Nepal. Photo: AP

Published: 10:40pm, 4 Dec 2019Updated: 3:52pm, 5 Dec 2019

Tens of thousands of devout Hindus thronged a temple in southern Nepal where thousands of animals and birds were sacrificed this week, amid an outcry from animal rights activists who said the ritual was a cruel and gruesome spectacle.

The ceremony, held every five years at the Gadhimai temple in Bara in southern Nepal, is believed to be the largest such mass-slaughter event in the world, and animal rights activists have been campaigning to end it for years.

About 80 per cent of Nepal’s 30 million population are Hindus and many sacrifice animals to appease deities during festivals. Thousands of devotees also travel from India to sacrifice animals at the festival.

On Tuesday, devotees carrying swords and large curved knives called khukurs beheaded more than 3,000 buffaloes near the temple, witnesses said. Animal sacrifices continued on Wednesday when goats and other animals were slaughtered.

Hindu devotees gather near a temple during the Gadhimai Festival in Bariyarpur, Nepal. Photo: AFP

“There is no justification for this mass killing, and it is truly heartbreaking to witness,” said Tanuja Basnet, director of the Nepal unit of Humane Society International, in a release that also called on Nepal’s government to introduce a law banning animal sacrifice.