In July 2015, the trust that runs Nepal's Gadhimai Temple announced that it would end the mass animal sacrifice held there every five years, often described as the largest single-site animal sacrifice in the world. Animal welfare groups hailed it as a historic victory. The reality turned out to be more complicated: the trust later denied having made a binding decision, and when the festival returned in 2019, and again in 2024, the killing went ahead, though under growing legal and public pressure.
Here is what the Gadhimai festival is, what was promised in 2015, and what has happened since.
What is the Gadhimai festival?
Gadhimai is a Hindu festival held every five years at the Gadhimai Temple in Bariyarpur, in Nepal's Bara district, about 160 km south of Kathmandu and close to the Indian border. It honours Gadhimai, worshipped locally as a goddess of power. Devotees believe that offerings to her can drive away evil and bring prosperity.
According to local tradition, the festival dates to around 1759, when a feudal landlord named Bhagwan Chaudhary dreamed that the goddess would free him from prison if he offered her blood. Over time the event grew into a huge gathering. Attendance is estimated in the millions, with many pilgrims crossing from neighbouring parts of India.
Not all offerings are animals. Many devotees bring coconuts, sweets and red cloth. But the festival became internationally known for the sacrifice of buffalo, goats, chickens, pigs, pigeons and rats over two days.
How many animals were killed?
Figures are estimates, and they vary widely:
- 2009: between 250,000 and 500,000 animals, with more than 20,000 buffalo reportedly killed on the first day alone.
- 2014: estimates range from about 30,000 to 200,000 animals. Al Jazeera, citing AFP, gave the figure of around 200,000.
- 2019: about 200 butchers armed with swords and knives entered a walled arena larger than a football pitch holding several thousand buffalo. No reliable total was published.
Much of the scale comes from animals brought across the border. In 2014 India's Supreme Court, responding to a petition from animal welfare campaigner Gauri Maulekhi, issued an interim order directing the Indian government to stop animals being moved illegally into Nepal for the festival.
The 2015 announcement
The campaign against the sacrifice was led in Nepal by Animal Welfare Network Nepal (AWNN), with support from Humane Society International (HSI) India. Rather than only protesting from outside, AWNN worked directly with the temple committee. In July 2015 a statement issued in the name of the Gadhimai Temple Trust and its chairman, Ram Chandra Shah, declared a formal decision to end sacrifice and called for the 2019 festival to be free of bloodshed. One line was widely quoted:
"The time has come to replace killing and violence with peaceful worship and celebration."
HSI India and AWNN welcomed the move and said the trust had also promised, with its priest, to campaign actively against animal sacrifice and to repurpose the arena where the killing took place. Manoj Gautam, a founder of AWNN, credited the decision to building a relationship with the temple committee rather than confronting it.
At the time, it looked like the end of the practice.
What happened next: 2019 and 2024
The pledge did not hold. Wikipedia's account of the festival notes that the trust later denied it had decided to stop sacrifices, and that earlier reports of an outright ban were mistaken. The announcement had no legal force on its own, and the temple has little control over what pilgrims do once they arrive.
In 2019 the slaughter began on 3 December amid tight security. A local priest said devotees' actions outside the temple were their own choice, while a festival organiser said the committee had tried not to support the practice but that people held faith in the tradition. Manoj Gautam told reporters that officials:
"have let their personal beliefs rule over the court orders"
Nepal's Supreme Court had by then directed the government to discourage the bloodshed, and a 2019 ruling ordered an end to live sacrifices. Campaigners say these orders have been widely ignored. The festival was held again in 2024, once more with sacrifices and with protests from animal rights groups and some Nepali Hindus.
So the honest summary is this: the 2015 pledge did not end the sacrifice, but campaigning, court orders and border checks have put sustained pressure on it, and attitudes are shifting.
Why change is slow
Mass sacrifice at Gadhimai is not simply a temple policy that can be switched off. It rests on personal vows: many pilgrims reportedly promise an animal to the goddess in return for a prayer answered, such as recovery from illness or the birth of a child. Breaking such a vow feels, to a believer, like breaking a promise to God.
Several other factors make enforcement difficult:
- Cross-border crowds. Many pilgrims and animals come from India, so Nepal alone cannot control the flow. Indian border officials and volunteers have seized animals, but many still get through.
- Local economy. The festival brings trade to a poor region, from food stalls to, reportedly, the sale of hides and meat.
- Religious sensitivity. Politicians are often reluctant to be seen interfering with worship, even when courts have ruled.
Campaigners have generally found more success with persuasion than with condemnation: offering alternative rituals, such as symbolic offerings or releasing animals instead of killing them, and working with priests who are open to reform.
Common misconceptions
"Nepal banned the Gadhimai festival"
No. The festival itself continues. The 2015 statement concerned animal sacrifice, and even that pledge was later disputed by the trust.
"All Hindus practise animal sacrifice"
Many Hindus are vegetarian and oppose animal sacrifice on religious grounds. Some of the protests against Gadhimai have come from Hindus themselves.
"Nothing has changed"
Also not quite true. Court orders in both India and Nepal, international attention and local campaigns have reduced the flow of animals and made the practice far more contested than it was in 2009.
The Gadhimai story is a useful reminder that a headline about victory is often the start of a long process, not the end of it. Real change in deeply rooted traditions usually comes from patient work with the communities who keep them.
Sources: Wikipedia: Gadhimai festival; Al Jazeera / AFP: Gadhimai: Nepal's mass animal slaughter begins despite outcry (3 December 2019). The 2015 statement was published by Humane Society International and Animal Welfare Network Nepal. Photos: Animals Australia (top) and CNN. Earlier shared via True Activist.
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