Gadhimai - Nepal's Bloody Shame

The world's biggest slaughter festival is due to happen this year in Nepal. The Gadhimai festival (so sickening to even call this massacre a festival) happens once every five years and the most recent occurrence involved the inhumane slaughter of more than a quarter of a million animals.

I am not going to post any of the images I have seen as for most they will be far too distressing. None of these animals would have been stunned before slaughter and many would have faced slow, painful deaths. Animals witnessed others being slaughtered around them whilst waiting for their turn. The levels of suffering and distress are almost unimaginable.

I am a supporter of COMPASSION IN WORLD FARMING who are campaigning to bring an end to the funding Gadhimai receives from the Nepalese Government and end this massacre once and for all.

Nepal's bloody shame....

Stop Live Exports Campaign

Compassion in World Farming has projected powerful images and messages regarding live exports onto the iconic White Cliffs of Dover in order to draw attention to the trade. The images were a potent reminder of the cruel trade that passes through the port. Compassion believes Dover to be the only English port currently used for the shipment of live sheep and calves for fattening and slaughter on the continent. Call on the government to change the law so animals are not considered simply goods and ports like Dover can decide whether or not they want to take live animals for slaughter.

Hour After Hour of Living Hell...

I have just read another report from Compassion In World Farming about a typical long distance journey involving live sheep being exported to Turkey. I use the term 'live' advisedly as many of these wretched animals arrive already dead. These journeys can mean days or even weeks of hell for the animals involved. Here is an extract from the report of a CIWF undercover investigator:

"Some of the things you see are cruel beyond belief. Animals crammed into lorries with temperatures rising as high as a blistering 58℃... An overpowering stench of ammonia from poorly ventilated lorries... Lambs so crowded they can't move without standing on each other... Animals so hungry they are forced to eat their filthy bedding and so thirsty they lick the walls of the trucks, desperate for any droplets of condensation... Injured animals being forced onto trucks with sharp prods from metal rods and repeated kicks to their bodies."

At the end of their long journey many animals may be too exhausted or ill to move. Compassion in World Farming's Investigations Team has witnessed weak or injured animals being beaten and kicked, or simply left to die in the dirt.

I support Compassion in World Farming as does Joanna Lumley OBE, CIWF Patron. CIWF is doing all it can to eliminate cruelty from the food production chain. Every year in Europe and around the world, millions of sheep, pigs, cattle and horses are crammed into lorries and ships; their final destination could be hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Many animals die before they get there. It's inhumane, it's unnecessary and it has to stop.

Farm animals are now recognised in European law as sentient beings - capable of feeling pain and suffering. But European animal transport laws need strengthening and proper enforcement. You can help Compassion in World Farming to continue exposing the truth about these appalling cases of cruelty by making a donation. Visit ciwf.org/stopit