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Gadhimai 2019

End the sacrifice of animals at Gadhimai

The Gadhimai festival takes place every five years in Nepal, just over the border of India, where hundreds of thousands of animals have been killed as part of a religious sacrifice.

Animal Equality India’s 2019 investigation of the festival reveals scenes of extreme cruelty. Despite international condemnation, this massive animal sacrifice is still continued.

Footage from this years festival shows animals hacked to death with machetes by festival attendees, animals left to die in extreme pain over long periods of time, and terrified animals chased by groups of people wielding other weapons.

We, the undersigned, urge the Nepalese government to act now to stop this mass slaughter of animals and introduce a law banning animal sacrifice in Nepal.

Thank you for standing up for animals!

Your request will be shared with the government of Nepal, urging them to ban the mass slaughter of animals at the Gadhimai festival.

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Thank you, {firstname}!

Your actions are changing the world for animals everywhere. Thank you again for your support and we’ll keep you informed on any progress we make.

For the animals,
Sharon Núñez
President
Animal Equality

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WHAT WE FOUND

In exclusive footage, Animal Equality’s 2019 investigation shows animals brutally massacred by festival attendees using machetes and other weapons at the Gadhimai festival in Southern Nepal.

UNIMAGINABLE VIOLENCE: Our investigative team documented many atrocities, including:

sexual abuse of some of the animals at the temple animals transported to the temple in unsafe and unhygienic conditions animals hanging upside down on bicycles starving animals without enough food or water calves, waiting to be slaughtered, who died due to cold temperatures devotees cutting the ears off goats and buffaloes, leaving them to bleed

THOUSANDS KILLED: Many animals were slaughtered at the festival. For example, aerial footage of the buffalo enclosure taken by our drones showed approximately 3,203 animals killed this year. That number could have been far worse, as the temple committee planned to sacrifice about 15,000 buffaloes. Thanks to our collaborative campaign, many animals were spared a gruesome fate.

WHAT WE DID TO HELP: Aside from our work on the ground during the Gadhimai festival, we actively campaigned to stop the killing at the festival for several months, gathering over 100,000 international signatures urging the Nepalese government to ban the slaughter of animals. We also collaborated with the Red Cross Society of Nepal to organize a blood donation camp, where devotees could give their blood to honor the deity instead of sacrificing animal blood.

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GADHIMAI FESTIVAL ANIMAL SACRIFICES 2019

The Gadhimai Festival takes place every five years in Southern Nepal. In 2019 Animal Equality used drones to capture footage of hundreds of animals slaughtered in front of each other.
Many animals are forced to endure long journeys without food or water to the site of the festival, where they will ultimately be slaughtered as part of the religious sacrifice.
The animals were killed by devotees, who have no experience or right instruments due to which the animals die a slow and most painful death. The devotees could not behead the buffaloes in one attempt. After the animal fell on the ground the men hacked until the buffalo’s head was separated from the body.
As the carnage was underway inside the enclosure, goats, rams, pigeons, ducks, roosters were being sacrificed by the devotees in the surrounding area. This all was in violation of the order of the Supreme Court of Nepal which states that cruel, barbarous and unkind treatment towards animals should not be allowed.
In an effort to discourage animal sacrifice and introduce an alternative compassionate practice, Animal Equality collaborated with the Red Cross Society of Nepal to organise a blood donation camp, where devotees donated their own blood instead of offering animal sacrifice to the deity.
By the end of the two-day festival, thousands of animal carcasses could be seen laid strewn across the fields near the temple.

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