We are excited to announce that our Gadhimai Festival campaign, which has focused for several years on the rapid reduction and phasing out of archaic animal sacrifice practices in Nepal, has entered the final stage. We are heartened by this week’s overwhelming response from local authorities, and especially the support from residents who now understand and feel the need to stop mass sacrifice of animals to honor the Hindu goddess Gadhimai. Communities are now rallying behind the idea of a bloodless festival to honor the deity.
Today, September 26, 2019, the Judgement Execution Directorate of the Supreme Court of Nepal, in collaboration with the Jane Goodall Institute of Nepal, organized the first awareness program in Birgunj to engage the relevant government bodies and the general public. This historic event marks the first attempt by the government to implement the judgement of the Supreme Court of Nepal on the Public Interest Litigation filed in 2014 by activists seeking to end this cruel and wasteful practice. In the three years since the full text of the Supreme Court of Nepal’s judgement was released, we have been lobbying the government to enforce the High Court’s orders.
The Gadhimai Festival drew worldwide attention in 2009 when an estimated 500,000 buffalo, goats, chickens, pigs and other animals were sacrificed. After our five-year campaign, the number of animal sacrifices reportedly decreased by more than 70% (from about 186,00 buffalo to 3,256) in 2014. The continued efforts of our team in 2015 convinced the Gadhimai Temple Committee to publicly denounce the practice of sacrifice in two consecutive press conferences. There has since been a lot of confusion among our supporters and animal lovers as there were news of the Temple Committee Chairman backtracking from the commitment. The local pressure and politics around the issue of the Gadhimai sacrifice has been a constant challenge but the real achievement that we celebrate today is the fact that an ambitious dream that a small team of ours dared to dream some 11 years ago has turned into a cause that the government of Nepal including the Supreme Court today is committed to.
We assure all our supporters that we will not rest until this horror turns into a beautiful story of the human ability and resolve to transform cruelty into compassion and serve as an inspiring example of progress.
Please write info@jgiNepal.org for feedback and support.
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