Nepal prepares for animal sacrifice

Last Updated: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:25:00 +1100

Thousands of Hindu devotees have flocked to a village in southern Nepal ahead of the planned sacrifice of around half a million animals.

The festival of Gadimai takes places every five years at Bariyapur in Bara district and is condemned by animal rights activists.

Priests are preparing for the slaughter of more than 15,000 buffaloes and 300,000 birds, goats and sheep.

The ceremony starts on Tuesday and is thought to be the biggest ritual sacrifice in the world.

The director of pressure group Animal Nepal, Pramada Shah, says her organisation is taking legal action to prevent the slaughter.

She has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program the sacrifice is not necessary.

"We've talked to a lot of priests and they have confirmed that our holy scriptures do not prescribe animal sacrifice," she says.

"It's the cruelty that these animals face that we are against and we would like this practice to stop, because we feel it's our right when we visit a temple not to see blood."

"There are a lot of Nepalese, and a lot of people even from India, who don't support animal sacrifice. So it's basically a cruelty issue, and also it's an issue about in the 21st century do we really need to do this?"

Nepal's government says it will not intervene, calling the custom a centuries old religious tradition.

French actress Bridget Bardot is among high profile animal rights activists opposing the sacrifice.