Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters

In the Gadhimai aftermath, reasons for hope 

December 3, 2014 CIWF (Compassion in World Farming)

Alongside our campaign partners Animal Welfare Network Nepal (AWNN) we fought hard to stop the festival. 176,000 of you signed the petition calling for an end to the slaughter and an end to government subsidies for slaughter festivals in Nepal. We also met with the Nepalese Embassy in the UK and worked with animal protection groups in over 20 countries to create international pressure, knowing that the potential risk to tourism was a fear of the Nepalese Government. 

- Your campaigning achieved its first objective, as the Nepalese Government did not give any official funds to the festival.

- The Indian Government took action at the country’s border and thousands of animals were prevented from crossing into Nepal for the festival.  

- AWNN successfully convinced many festival goers to forgo sacrifice and instead make a small cut to their animal’s ear as an alternative blood-offering, saving the lives of over 300 buffalo. 

- The number of animals involved was vastly reduced – we believe by at least 75% in comparison to the last festival. 

- Due to the reduction in buffalo numbers a contract that had been agreed with a meat-buyer was cancelled, which is likely to have had huge financial impact on the festival organisers.  

- Despite rumoured government attempts to ban photography, the international press widely covered the festival, applying additional pressure on the Government to make sure this sacrifice never happens again.

Reduction in animal sacrifice at Gadhimai

December 3, 2014 HSI (Humane Society International)

Our team from HSI/India is back home after spending an emotional week in Nepal fighting the world’s largest animal sacrifice at the Gadhimai Temple. While we didn’t stop the festival from going on, our intense work in the preceding months as well as last week helped lead to a great reduction in the number of animals killed. We were able to stop the movement of animals from India to Nepal reducing at least the buffalo count by 80%. 

Together with our partners in Nepal, we: 

- successfully petitioned the Supreme Court of India to order a halt to illegal border crossings, resulting in 114 arrests and more than 2,500 animals seized. 

- met with the president and prime minister of Nepal to directly request their intervention. 

helped organize volunteers to build control zones and quarantine stations on-site for the animals being brought in. 

- helped provide direct care to animals confiscated at the border.  

- lobbied the chief priest of the Gadhimai Temple through the night until just hours before the butchering started, in a last-minute attempt to stop the bloodshed.  

- personally attended the event to help bring images and awareness of it to the world.

December 4, 2019 Mass slaughter in Nepal: thousands of animals killed in two days

Buffalos, goats, pigeons, pigs, ducks, rats and chickens have been slaughtered during the Gadhimai ‘festival’ in Nepal. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the festival, bringing their own animals to sacrifice. Animal welfare organizations and people from around the world have condemned the sickening and cruel massacre of innocent, feeling beings.  

Animals murdered in the name of culture, tradition, religion, celebration, or superstition are among the greatest obstacles to our moral progress.

Read more: Ethical Issues - animals & religious views; sacrifice, factory farming; pressure mounts to end Gadhimai sacrifice; the bloodbath went ahead; the aftermath; will it stop?

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