Animal sacrifice on the wane - Ash gourds, pumpkins & sugarcanes replace bulls & lambs

The Telegraph (Kolkata), Oct 13, 2008

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 12: Animal lovers have a reason to cheer as this Puja has seen the trend of animal sacrifice plummeting in the state.

Ash gourds, sugarcanes and pumpkins have replaced animals in most places.

“Following the hue and cry over animal sacrifice and a number of PILs filed by us, the number of animal sacrifices have significantly decreased,” said Jiban Das, the state secretary of People for Animals (PFA). “The tradition of slaughtering animals in the name of propitiating the deity will soon be a thing of past,” he added.

This time, the animal activists have been successful in convincing people to use other alternatives for sacrifice. Many devotees, who had earlier been sacrificing animals such as lambs, bulls and goats, offered sugarcane, pumpkins, ash gourds, coconuts and betelnuts and pumpkins this year. “The sacrifice of pumpkin is the most common substitute,” said Das.

The campaign of PFA was fruitful as animal sacrifice completely stopped at Kaolpada and Banki in Cuttack. This practice was still on at some places, including Sulia Manch in Bolangir, where the activists continued with their efforts to stop it. “Our representatives have been meeting local administrative officials and people requesting them to put an end to the gory practice,” said Das.

The police have been deployed on the Bahgawati temple premises at Banpur and the Biragobindpur temple at Puri where the sacrifices were held last week.

“We have had discussions with the officials and the local residents earlier and our volunteers were keeping stock of the situation so that minimum numbers of sacrifices take place,” said Das.

However, in some places, such as Bhawanipatna, the administration had to withdraw its decision bowing down to protests of the local community. The area last week witnessed around 3,000 animal sacrifices offered to the presiding deity, Maa Manikeshwari.