World's biggest animal sacrifice begins in Nepal

[denem]

Source: Russian Information Agency Novosti

Hundreds of thousands of Hindus gathered in southern Nepal for a notorious ritual slaughter of animals and birds, Times of India reported on Tuesday.

The ritual known as the largest sacrificial slaughter of animals in the world sparked protests by animal rights activists, including French actress Brigitte Bardot, and livestock experts. The experts warn that the massacre could cause an outbreak of such diseases like goat plague, swine flu and bird flu.

However, Nepal's government refused to ban the massacre calling it a centuries-old tradition.

The local Maoist MP, Shiv Chandra Kushwaha told Times of India, "We can't stop them because it is a religious sentiment."

Read more: http://en.rian.ru/world/20091124/156971937.html

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The Guardian: Hindu sacrifice of 250,000 animals begins

The world's biggest animal sacrifice began in Nepal today with the killing of the first of more than 250,000 animals as part of a Hindu festival in the village of Bariyapur, near the border with India.

The event, which happens every five years, began with the decapitation of thousands of buffalo, killed in honour of Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power

With up to a million worshippers on the roads near the festival grounds, this year's fair seems more popular than ever, despite vocal protests from animals rights groups who have called for it to be banned. "It is the traditional way, " explained 45-year old Manoj Shah, a Nepali driver who has been attending the event since he was six, "If we want anything, and we come here with an offering to the goddess, within five years all our dreams will be fulfilled." ...

As dawn broke, the fair officially opened with the sacrifice of two rats, two pigeons, a pig, a lamb and a rooster in the main temple, to cheers of "Long live Gadhimai" from spectators pushing against each other for a better view. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/24/hindu-sacrifice-gadhimai-festival-nepal

I didn't know that animal slaughter, on this scale, occurred anywhere in the name of religion, let alone Hinduism, which I associate with a reverence for the natural world. The pictures look more like ancient Rome.