All eyes are on the movement of cattle to Nepal through the porous border in the run-up to Gadhimai, the world’s goriest animal sacrifice event, scheduled for November 28 and 29.

Around 2.5 lakh cattle, mostly male water buffaloes, were sacrificed during the last Gadhimai festival in 2009. The figure could touch five lakh this time. Seventy per cent of the animals are expected to be from India, mostly Bihar. The other states are Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bengal.

On November 5, Union minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha wrote to Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh, also Motihari MP, to look into illegal transport of cattle from Bihar. On September 25 and November 3, home ministry had directed Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to check animal transport in November.

Even the Supreme Court had in an interim order passed on October 17 issued notices to the four bordering states to check smuggling of animals.

In September, the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) headquarters had, through a memorandum, directed inspectors-general at all frontier headquarters, including Patna, to take action to ban movement of animals for Gadhimai. The memorandum, signed by Somesh Goyal, inspector-general (operations and intelligence), said cattle corridors in different divisions had been identified and approximately four lakh cattle, particularly buffaloes, were likely to be smuggled.

Again, on October 10, the SSB headquarters issued similar instructions with special emphasis on compliance by IG, frontier headquarters, Patna, S.K. Singhal. The IG said: “All border police outposts have been directed to maintain round-the-clock surveillance and carry out raids with help of local police.”

Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals state secretary Ratneshwar Singh said on an average, 35 trucks carrying cattle from Bihar crossed the border with Nepal and Bangladesh daily. “We have deployed SPCA inspectors to check illegal trade with help of SSB and district police, and seized several vehicles,” he said.

The state police said they had seized 271 Nepal-bound cattle from bordering districts. A police officer said the drive would continue till the fair ends next week.

Ratneshwar lamented dearth of goshalas (sheds to keep cattle in). “We can’t keep cattle at police stations for long. We have reminded the administration to arrange for cowsheds but to no avail,” he said.

Bloodiest festival

The month-long festival is held every five years, usually in November-December to worship Gadhimai, the goddess of power. Blood flows like water because of a belief that five lakh animals must be slaughtered in the first two days. Butchers spend 48 hours, non-stop, massacring thousands of water buffaloes, pigs, goats, chicken, pigeons and mice. The festival owes its origin to a 265-year-old myth about a feudal landlord, Bhagwan Chaudhary, from Bariyarpur village in Nepal’s Bara district. Legend has it that Chaudhary was imprisoned in Makwanpur Fort. One night, Goddess Gadhimai appeared to him in a dream and sought a human sacrifice to end his woes. Chaudhary could not bear sacrificing a human, but promised to sacrifice five animals on returning to Bariyarpur. After a token offering of a few drops of blood from five parts of his body, Chaudhary got a priest to do a panchbali, sacrifice a buffalo, pig, goat, chicken and rat.

Why nobody stops it

Manoj Gautam, president of the Animal Welfare Network, Nepal, said: “Nepal does not have stern animal protection norms. But we have succeeded in getting national quarantine bill of Nepal approved, in principle. Animal husbandry and livestock department would set up 52 check posts across a 10km periphery of the venue. Only animals with legal transport licence can enter.

Global protest

Twenty-two countries across the world are protesting. Online drives like ‘Let’s STOP Animal Sacrifice at Gadhimai’ exist. Protests are on in London, Washington DC and Geneva. Urvashi Prasad, a representative from India in the Global Shapers Community at World Economic Forum, said over phone from Geneva : “We are generating awareness on the need for Nepal to stop mass animal slaughter during Gadhimai. We are trying to convince EU to build pressure.”

Nuggehalli Jayasimha, MD, India wing of Humane Society International, is camping along the India-Nepal border with Gauri Maulekhi, member-secretary, People For Animals. Delhi-based activist Naresh Kadiyan has started a web signature campaign.