In Pictures: Nepalese Festival Where Half a Million Animals Will Be Sacrificed
Today marks the beginning of the Nepalese Gadhimai festival, where hundreds of thousands of animals are expected to be sacrificed in the name of the Hindu goddess.
The festival, which takes place every five years at the border town of Bariyarpur, sees men armed with traditional swords behead animals including goats, chickens, pigs and buffalo. The last festival, which took place in 2009, saw over a quarter of a million animals killed and CNN are reporting that this year the number of sacrifices are expected to double to 500,000.
The festival is the world’s largest mass animal sacrifice, and the event has attracted widespread criticism. This year a campaign to ban the festival was launched with supporters including Brigitte Bardot and Joanna Lumley who petitioned Nepal's president to end the "cruel tradition".
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