Animal Equality documents mass animal sacrifice at Nepal’s Gadhimai Festival
Animal Equality has released exclusive footage from the Gadhimai Festival, held last weekend in southern Nepal, exposing the mass slaughter of thousands of animals. The festival, which takes place every five years, is infamous for its large-scale animal sacrifices. Despite international condemnation and court rulings aimed at curbing such practices, the killings continue, highlighting a pressing need for further intervention.
Mass cruelty exposed
Animal Equality’s team documented:
- Animals being slaughtered with machetes and knives, often wielded by inexperienced devotees, resulting in slow and painful deaths
- Animals being transported and stuffed into overcrowded trucks
- Animals being forced to walk several kilometres with little or no water and food
- Starving animals
- Devotees cutting the ears of goats and buffaloes, leaving them to bleed
Amruta Ubale, Executive Director of Animal Equality India, was at the frontline. She reported that many buffaloes attempted to escape slaughter enclosures only to be dragged back by their tails and killed.
The buffaloes were subjected to watch other buffaloes being killed before their very eyes. Soon, the petrified buffaloes, horrified by the massacre, huddled together in corners to escape the sight of the executioners and in a desperate attempt to live. They were pulled by their tails one-by-one and each of them was brutally slaughtered.
Amruta Ubale, Executive Director of Animal Equality India
Beyond the main festival grounds, sacrifices of goats, rams, pigeons, ducks, and roosters took place in surrounding areas, violating Nepal’s Supreme Court orders against cruel and barbaric treatment of animals.
Hiding the truth
The Gadhimai temple committee has not only chosen to continue the sacrifices but has also taken extreme measures to hide the scale of the killings. Filming and photography were strictly banned, with hundreds of police officers deployed to enforce the rules. The committee heightened the walls around the enclosure to prevent people from climbing up to film. Despite these efforts, our team managed to document the event by filming through holes in the walls and from elevated positions. Some team members were struck by police while attempting to film.
This year, as the committee had been concerned about the backlash it received, additional tactics were employed to obscure mass killings. Artificial smoke was used inside the enclosure, likely from fog machines. Combined with campfire smoke, which caused eye irritation and breathlessness, visibility was reduced to two to three feet. Due to the smog and the presence of police, drone use was impossible.
The committee also put hay on the carcasses, so that we could not carry out an animal headcount, like we have during the past two festivals.
Progress
For a decade, Animal Equality has been striving to end the animal sacrifices at the Gadhimai Festival. These persistent efforts have led to a significant reduction in the number of large animals killed during the event. In 2014, Animal Equality successfully engaged with officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs, resulting in an order directing police to halt the transport of animals across the border during the festival.
By 2019, the number of large animals sacrificed had dropped to 3,203. This year, our team has distributed leaflets to devotees, explaining that the original tradition of Gadhimai did not involve killing animals. We also hung awareness banners. While visibility at the 2024 event was limited, we estimate that the number of large animals killed has now been reduced by about half.
Despite these efforts, the continuation of animal sacrifice at Gadhimai underscores the urgent need for stronger enforcement and cultural change. Animal Equality remains committed to exposing the truth and advocating for an end to this cruel practice.
It’s not just Nepal
The Gadhimai festival is not the only tradition that results in the senseless death of millions of animals.
Every Thanksgiving, more than 45 million turkeys are killed for human consumption in the United States, and in Britain, an estimated 10 million turkeys are killed for Christmas dinner each year.
Our exposés have revealed the harsh realities these animals endure. We’ve released footage of turkeys in the UK being eaten alive on an award-winning farm, suffering from severe wounds, and living among rotting carcasses. In slaughterhouses, the speed of killing lines can result in birds being dropped into scalding tanks before they are properly stunned, leading to severe suffering in their final moments of life.
Enough is enough. Traditions should be celebrated with compassion not cruelty. Explore Animal Equality’s delicious cookbook for festive plant-based recipes that let you celebrate without harm.
save animals, eat plant based
As a consumer, you hold the power to protect animals from the meat industry. Every plant-based meal saves animals from a life of misery in factory farms and slaughterhouses.
