{"id":1346,"date":"2019-12-03T18:11:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T18:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/?p=1346"},"modified":"2019-12-03T18:11:14","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T18:11:14","slug":"gadhimai-hindu-festival-worlds-largest-animal-sacrifice-underway-in-defiance-of-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/?p=1346","title":{"rendered":"GADHIMAI HINDU FESTIVAL: WORLD\u2019S \u2018LARGEST ANIMAL SACRIFICE\u2019 UNDERWAY IN DEFIANCE OF BAN"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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False Prophets<\/div>\n
\"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep\u2019s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolve.\" \n \u2014 Matthew 7:15<\/blockquote><\/strong><\/div>\n
Eternal Life<\/div>\n
\"Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:\" \n \u2014 1Corinthians 5:7<\/blockquote><\/strong><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Article Source: Independent<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hindu worshippers have begun beheading thousands of buffalo in\u00a0Nepalas part of what is thought to be the world\u2019s largest animal sacrifice event.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The\u00a0Gadhimai festival\u00a0started in the early hours of Tuesday morning as a priest killed a goat, rat, chicken, pig, and pigeon and then offered blood from his own body.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Around 200 butchers wielding curved kukri knives then descended on a walled temple arena containing an estimated 3,500 buffalo to behead the animals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Campaigners for animal rights charity Humane Society International described seeing baby buffaloes bellowing as they watched their mothers being decapitated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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They said others collapsed from exhaustion, sickness, and stress as worshippers attempted to drag them to their deaths.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Thousands of people from Nepal and neighboring\u00a0India\u00a0traveled to\u00a0Bariyarpur village to witness the festival, which occurs every five years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A Hindu devotee prepares to slaughter a buffalo (AFP via Getty Images)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The sacrifices\u00a0went ahead despite temple authorities announcing a ban in 2015 and Nepal\u2019s supreme court directing the government to reduce animal sacrifice a year later.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Alokparna Sengupta, managing director of Humane Society International in India, said being at the festival was \u201cone of the most depressing and challenging experiences of my life\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe suffering of these animals is so upsetting, they have endured exhausting journeys to get here and are paraded in front of a baying crowd as all around them they witness other animals being decapitated one by one,\u201d she said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cBuffalo calves look on in bewilderment as their mothers are slaughtered in front of them. The hysteria and apparent jubilation at seeing confused and frightened animals being slaughtered were very disturbing.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In the last week, the Indian border force and campaigners seized hundreds of baby\u00a0goats, pigeons, and buffaloes at the border.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe may not have a bloodless Gadhimai this time, but we are determined that one day we will see an end to this gruesome spectacle,\u201d Ms. Sengupta added.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Mimi Bekhechi, Peta\u2019s director of international programs, said: \u201cNepali officials promised \u2013 but have failed \u2013 to protect thousands of petrified animals from being dragged and transported to a violent mass killing that starts today.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe government must act forcefully to prevent this bloodbath from taking place again or feel the impact of a tourist boycott.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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She added: \u201cDevotees are bringing universal condemnation to a wonderful religion \u2013 which needn\u2019t be based on fear and cruelty \u2013 and just as widow-burning and human-baby sacrifice have ended, so must the horror of an animal-slaughter festival.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cGruesome images of animals looking up pitifully and struggling as they\u2019re hacked into pieces ruin Nepal\u2019s reputation, and we urge all of its compassionate citizens to join the international clamor for an end to such barbarity.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In 2009, at the height of the festival, around 500,000 buffaloes, goats, pigeons, and other animals were killed. After protests in the intervening years, 30,000 were killed in 2014.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Devotees believe the ritual slaughter brings good luck and encourage Gadhimai, the Hindu goddess of power, to answer their wishes.\u200b<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2018Buffalo calves look on in bewilderment as their mothers are slaughtered in front of them,\u2019 eyewitness says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eternal-life","category-false-prophets","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1346"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1352,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346\/revisions\/1352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}