Kathmandu, March 22, 2010 - The Animal Welfare Network Nepal (AWNN) appeals to the Nepal Army to cancel its blood sacrifices, starting this Chaite Dasain. The campaigners argue that animal sacrifices conducted by the army condone state supported animal cruelty. According to the campaigners ‘decapitating a bleating buffalo or goat should not be the symbol of Nepali civilisation’.
In letters to the Chief of Army Staff, campaigners say the time has come to abolish animal sacrifices conducted by the Nepal Army. Blood sacrifices promotes superstition and violence, drain the poor and prevent Nepal from becoming a truly advanced country,” the campaigners argue.
The Nepal Army during Chaite and Bada Dasain sacrifices water buffaloes and goats at the guard houses at Hanuman Dhoka at Kathmandu and Bhaktapur Durbar Square. The rites last about two hours and are concluded after the military commander smears each of the banners with the sacrificial blood.
The campaigners argue that these sacrifices condone State supported animal cruelty. “It may be a part of our tradition that the khukuri wielded in the battlefields first had to draw the blood of sacrificial animals. However, our enemies today are not demons. It is superstition, fatalism, poverty and social inequity that plagues our society,” the campaigners argue.
The argument that animal sacrifices are part of army culture and tradition is not a valuable argument to commence these practices, according to AWNN. “Nepal, realizing the adverse effects, has abolished a number of ‘traditions’ in the past, including human sacrifice and widow burning,” the campaigners note.
According the AWNN now is the right time to address the controversial issue of animal sacrifice. The network invites the Nepal Army to show that it ‘indeed is a progressive force in society’ by sacrificing fruits and vegetables instead of animals.