Nepal’s quinquennial celebration involving animal slaughter for rituals will go bloodless from 2019. In 2009, more than 500,000 buffalo, goats, chickens and other animals were sacrificed in the Gadhimai festival. The number dipped by 70 per cent in 2014.
The Gadhimai’s Temple Trust, which organises the festival, said that its next edition, in 2019 will be “...a momentous celebration of life....and free from bloodshed.”
More than 70% attendees in this festival are from Bihar and UP. Key animal activist Gauri Maulekhi lauded the ban and said:
This is a tremendous victory for compassion that will save the lives of countless animals. HSI (Humane Society International)/India was heartbroken to witness the bloodshed at Gadhimai, and we’ve worked hard to help secure this ban on future sacrifice.
— Gauri Maulekhi, animal activist.
Apart from Maulekhi, current Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and the 60s French sex symbol, Brigitte Bardot also opposed the ritual animal slaughter in this festival.
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