Despite the pleas extended and legal action taken by concerned parties in India, a temple in Nepal held a Hindu festival involving the sacrifice of approximately 200 thousand animals.

Despite the pleas extended and legal action taken by concerned parties in India, a temple in Nepal held a Hindu festival involving the sacrifice of thousands of animals.

Nepal’s government is being specifically called out as negligent for its failure to intervene and stop the slaughter from happening.

The event in question is held every five years and honors Gadhimai, the Hindu goddess of power.

While sacrifice has long been a significant aspect of the gathering, this year the Indian Supreme Court issued an order prohibiting the transport of festival-related animals across the India-Nepal border.

Initially, Nepal’s government agreed to enforce the ban, and the temple’s trustees gave assurances that no killings would occur during the event.

Neither party stayed true to their word.

Many border patrol guards were, however, successful regardless and kept a large number of animals from being taken to the site.

Due in large part to their efforts, the instances of animal deaths decreased significantly from those that occurred at the gathering held in 2009.

Several activist and rights groups are now in the process of campaigning for the animal slaughter at this year’s Gadhimai Festival to be the last.