Illegal animal sacrifice in India

We consider the Ayoodha pooja on the occasion of Dussera ever year (falling in mid-October in 2007) as the Mother of all sacrifices, when millions of animals are sacrificed in the name of religion.

We fail to understand why these animals are sacrificed. To our knowledge it is not written in the religion, therefore morally, ethically and religiously, this is wrong.

Over the years we have been trying to pursue the authorities and devotees to stop such gruesome activities and we continue to do so this year. Probably this issue could also be taken to the court for legal justice, which is the violation of Andhra Pradesh Birds and Animals Sacrifice Act.

We just rescued one puppy from being sacrificed in the Kali temple. A senior lawyer questioned our interference and our claims, saying in a media campaign that this sacrifice had precedent and is part of the culture. Nonetheless we strongly refuted her claims and had the temple stop this gruesome sacrifice.

But there are many large-scale animal sacrifices everywhere in India using various religious ceremonies as a pretext. These sacrifices extend to snakes and other kind of wild animals.

The worst of this is that our part of the country has the best of animal protection, yet the animal sacrifices are still happening throughout the year. During October and November it is due to the Dussera and Kali festivals. January to April it is due to harvest season. And then there are many different kinds of "jataras" throughout the year. The list is endless.

These sacrifices are extreme sadism. To illustrate just one: a piglet, upside-down, is impaled on a spear fixed to the ground and slowly lowered down the spear. The higher the pitch of the animal screams the better they say it is for their village and harvest.

There is one temple that has six-foot high walls. Animals are sacrificed until the level of blood reaches the top of these walls.

The Andhra Pradesh province is the largest perpetrator of these crimes but they happen all over India, especially in the rural areas. We have been trying many tactics, from education to lobbying and now legal means. We aim to stop some major events – one of them at Durajpally, Warangal where the "priest" has to kill a young goat with one bite to the throat.

It is of course very dangerous as everybody is aware of our aims; this makes it very difficult to bring a change. Peela Ramakrishna – a renowned crusader against animal sacrifice for more than 40 years – had a very close call when he was dragged off by his hair and taken to be crucified – thankfully the police managed to save him.

It is indeed a very difficult and sensitive issue as we have realized during our campaigns to stop the cobra from being tortured to death on the occasion of Nagalachavathi.

This is nothing new to the authorities, but the most unfortunate fact is that, being a sensitive religious issue, there are politics which make it all the more risky to try and save the animals. It is not at all a happy situation for anyone with a little bit of heart to observe the plight of these animals, from transportation to slaughtering. One can witness the entire city – and probably entire state – flooded and painted and smeared with the blood of the animals. The roads, street corners, public places and important areas are also colored with “red” as lakhs of animals are sacrificed.

Many, many sheep are being slaughtered for the "festival" in public and in front of children, and out of 10 streets surveyed it was happening on 7 of them! The slaughtering of pigs is especially cruel as there is no method of stunning but simply hitting and beating to death. In some places people prevented us from taking photos and video.

We appeal through our website to stop this madness and also with an awareness education campaign. We plan to appeal to the High Court as well.

Photos below of animals being transported and slaughtered for sacrifice.