Every five years, in November-December, thousands of Hindus from Nepal and the bordering Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh travel to Bariyapur in Bara to celebrate the Gadhimai Mela. Two days of this festival are marked for animal sacrifice, which fall on November 28 and 29 this year. While animal sacrifice is not new to Nepali culture, Gadhimai stands out as ‘the world’s largest sacrifice of animals’. The number of animals sacrificed there, however, is debatable. But the sheer cruelty that the animals face is not. Buffaloes, goats, sheep, chicken, pigs, pigeons, and rats are killed in huge numbers to appease goddess Gadhimai so that she will fulfil the wishes of devotees. Most male water buffaloes are reportedly sick due to travel and are starved before they are hacked to slow, painful death by drunken men. The sight is grotesque.

So this time around, as in 2009 when the Mela was last held, the festival has garnered much international attention and opposition. On Saturday, British actress Joanna Lumley submitted a petition to the Nepali embassy in London, demanding government action against this ritual. While such opposition to inhumane treatment of animals is praiseworthy, the narrative of Gadhimai killings makes the blunder of calling all those who go there ‘uncivilised’, ‘primitive’ and ‘barbaric’ people who do not know any better. Some argue that better treatment of the animals and killing them out of sight of people, including children, in well-kept slaughterhouses could be an improvement. Others demand an outright ban on all forms of animal sacrifice, including during Dashain. Such suggestions have a point. But it would be myopic to see this issue as only relating to a festival or that of animal sacrifice.

The truth of the matter is, the way we Nepalis treat animals in general is simply brutal. Cruelty against animals is widespread. People kicking dogs for no reason at all is a common sight on the streets. And farmers, mostly those living near cities, mercilessly abandon young male calves and cows on the roads, as these animals  are of little use to them. During transportation, buffaloes are not allowed to sit down on trucks as their tails are twisted and tied in a knot. Transporting animals that way is a violation of the Animal Slaughterhouse and Meat Inspection Act 1999 and Animal Health and Livestock Services Rules 2000. The Act deal with ensuring quality of meat while the Rules covers transportation, import, export, and quarantine of animals. But bribing a few officials is an easy way out. Data on the animals brought to the Gadhimai festival is also unavailable and animals cross the border without going through the quarantine processes, which include ascertaining the animal’s health.

Clearly, there is a need to strictly enforce laws and punish those who torture animals. Still, real change cannot come unless people empathise with the suffering of animals. The argument of ‘who has time for animals when humans are dying in droves in this nation’ is simply not an excuse.