Bulbul-Fights Banned
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Vol XXXVIII No 1 Spring 2015 Journal of Beauty Without Cruelty - India An International Educational Charitable Trust for Animal Rights Gadhimai Shēngxiào Circus Animals Ethical Investments Bulbul- ghts banned Beauty Without Cruelty - India 4 Prince of Wales Drive, Wanowrie, Pune 411 040 Tel: +91 20 2686 1166 Fax: +91 20 2686 1420 Unravelling E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.bwcindia.org Gadhimai n 2009 around the time of Contents the Gadhimai mela (fair) Unravelling Gadhimai __________________ this page Iafter BWC approached Gadhimai Sacrifi cial Slaughter Exposed _________ 3 the Union Minister of Home Affairs to ban the Fact, not Fancy Forced Ferocious Fights _________ 6 movement of animals across Long Live the Circus – Without Animals! _________ 8 the Indo-Nepali border, the BWC Investment Guide 2015 __________________ 10 Government deployed an FYI Shēngxiào _______________________________ 11 additional 4,500 Sashastra Vegan Recipe Capsicum ______________________ 12 Seema Bal (SSB) offi cials at Special Offer Answers ___________ inside back cover the border outposts. According to a senior SSB offi cer the number of animals Beauty Without Cruelty sacrifi ced from India in 2009 is grateful to reduced by 75%. But, in view of only few hundred the late Shrenik Kasturbhai Lalbhai being seized and may be as for sponsoring this issue of many apprehended from crossing over, BWC felt it was an over-estimation, and therefore thought our by his donation of ` 1,00,000/- efforts had curtailed 50% of the animal sacrifi ces. received three weeks before his demise. This year we sent a similar request to the newly formed Beauty Without Cruelty Published and edited by Diana Ratnagar government. Before which is a way of life which causes Chairperson, BWC - India we had sent RTI applications no creature of land, sea or air Designed by Dinesh Dabholkar to the Home Affairs and terror, torture or death Printed at Mudra External Affairs Ministries 383 Narayan Peth, Pune 411 030 asking for the numbers of animals, people and vehicles is printed on paper © that crossed from India free of animal substances is the copyright of into Nepal between 21 and published every Beauty Without Cruelty - India. and 27 November 2009. spring (February), Unauthorised reproduction One of the replies dated summer (May), in any manner, monsoon (August) without written permission 11 March 2014 stated “the and winter (November) from the publisher, is prohibited. Bureau of Immigration is Cover: Assamese Bulbuli sorai or Red-vented Bulbul exempted from providing any Photo courtesy: ©Neeraj Mishra Beauty Without Cruelty Knowing the number of animals killed is lesser than thought are not ‘sacrifi ced’ there, does not make it any the less barbaric, cruel, or gruesome. devotees do break coconuts Every animal is an individual and each life is precious and as an offering to the deity. counts, say Diana Ratnagar and Rajeev Sethi Some Nepalese did not even know where or what information/details on the subject.” Whereas, the Ministry Gadhimai was, leave alone of Home Affairs’ Central Public Information Offi cer wrote it being synonymous with on 12 March 2014 “data regarding number of people, buffalo sacrifi ces! (The animals, etc. crossing Indo-Nepal border is not compiled Embassy in Kolkata said it by Department of Border Management, and accordingly is could be the way in which not available.” they and we pronounce Earlier, in January 2014, BWC began appealing for contacts Gadhimai.) Any way, there likely to help eliminate or at least lessen the number of is no doubt the place is animals sacrifi ced at the year-end Gadhimai mela in Nepal. insignifi cant except when it Our meticulous investigations about the Gadhimai animal comes to life – to kill – every sacrifi ce threw up some signifi cant information. But, it was few years. Not necessarily only after 28 & 29 November 2014 that we got to know we every fi ve years so the were not the only ones to have realised the 2009 fi gures next event may not take had been highly exaggerated. Moreover, the number of place in 2019 as expected. animals planned to be sacrifi ced at the forthcoming mela However, the Gadhimai mela had kept rising – began at 25,000, jumped to 2 lakhs and is organised on the shukla then 5 lakhs. paksha saptami and asthami The sacrifi cial area measures 2 Nepalese bighas – 13,546 (7th & 8th day of bright half) of square metres or 3.35 acres. One buffalo calf thrown on the Margshirsh month of the its side would cover a minimum 1.30 square metres. Adult Hindu lunar calendar. buffaloes would take up more space. Many photographs To some extent it was a relief show vacant spaces between carcasses. The carcasses are to know for sure that the not piled one upon another and none are taken out of the number of animals sacrifi ced fi eld when the killing is going on. Therefore, no more than did not run into lakhs 10,000 buffaloes can ever be sacrifi ced within the walled although sacrifi ce of smaller area. animals like goats, chickens The Reality and pigeons is said to be permitted within a radius of 3 We had not challenged or refuted claims made by others or 5 kilometres of the temple. because we felt it could harm the cause and even a few The number of devotees hundred animals might not get saved. Now that the 2014 who visit Gadhimai for the sacrifi ce is over, we are disclosing our fi ndings. mela are not as many either. The Gadhimai temple of Bariyarpur in Bara district in Only a couple of thousand Nepal is situated 26 kilometres from the border town animals are beheaded at of Raxaul in Bihar. Almost every one who attends the the site, but this, in itself is Gadhimai mela is from India. It is not essential for those who visit to sacrifi ce an animal – and most of them don’t. Although bananas, white pumpkins, and sugarcane sticks Spring 2015 1 Beauty Without Cruelty no doubt, mass slaughter. be bought, brought and beheaded by scores of slayers Repeated close scrutiny of swinging khukuris, machetes and scimitars operating round scores of photographs and the clock for a day or two. videos revealed that almost Persistent inquiries revealed that the temple authorities all the buffaloes were male take money from devotees for the animals promising to calves – obviously, unwanted arrange for the sacrifi ce – in the open fi eld away from the animals from the dairies of temple. A high wall has been erected around this slaughter- the region. fi eld and those who want to see what is going on need to Knowing the number of scale the wall. animals killed is lesser than And guess what? Two days later there was no trace thought does not make it whatsoever of the massacre. The heads were buried any the less barbaric, cruel, whereas the rest of the carcasses’ fl esh may, or may not or gruesome. Every animal have been distributed (meat spoils fast) and skin sold off. is an individual and each life is precious and counts. This For an animal to be sacrifi ced, a devotee may give ` 1,000 is evident from how we all or less, whereas another ` 3,000, and yet another ` 5,000. react on viewing the internet Thus the temple records show scores more than are videos of the buffaloes being actually sacrifi ced. People who wish to sacrifi ce may not s a c r i fi c e d . even see the animal and they do not want the meat. Once BWC came to this factual they have paid they think their reverence to the Goddess conclusion after making is over. extensive inquiries over a The Result year. We located and spoke Following the 2014 Supreme Court’s order directing the to a great number of people Government of India and states such as Bihar to check like auto rickshaw drivers the illegal movement of animals into Nepal, not only did of Bihar (not one of them the SSB confi scate some animals and arrest people, but had sacrifi ced an animal the animal activists who went to the area also helped to there), travel operators apprehend smugglers. Since hundreds of animals were of Gorakhpur, journalists again seized, the killing must have been lesser than in 2009. and many others who had themselves visited the To sum up, the number of buffaloes sacrifi ced at Gadhimai Gadhimai mela. in 2009 never ran into more than a few thousands, and in 2014 the number was lesser. The number of animals saved BWC now realises that from being sacrifi ced in November last, was again no more it is just not feasible for than a few hundred. So, about 50% buffaloes, goats and “approximately 90,000 chickens from India that were scheduled to be killed must buffaloes” as stated in the letters written by the have been saved. Ministry of Home Affairs Last, but not least, we must face the fact, since it is on 25 September 2014 to not economical for milk producers to rear young, male the State Governments, to buffaloes calves, they have no qualms whatsoever in selling them off… for sacrifi ce at Gadhimai. Diana Ratnagar is Managing Trustee & Chairperson of BWC-India. Rajeev Sethi is a Trustee of BWC-India. 2 Spring 2015 Beauty Without Cruelty Gadhimai Sacri cial The Gadhimai festival is magnitudes of order smaller than has been claimed, Slaughter Exposed says Merritt Clifton ebate about the numbers of buffalo Dsacrifi ced at the November 28 & 29, 2014 Gadhimai sacrifi cial festival at Bariyarpur, Nepal, and the numbers of human participants and sacrifi cial devotees present should be ended by this drone photo of the corrals where the sacrifi ces were conducted: the toll was signifi cantly lower than the numbers of cattle Overview of the 2014 Gadhimai sacri cial festival at Bariyarpur, Nepal.