Regd. No. 2859/147

Letter to the Editor

We at Animal Nepal call for an immediate end to inhumane transport and killing of buffaloes (and other farm animals). The images of the buffalo who created havoc in the heart of the city have deeply disturbed us. The buffalo reportedly escaped from a slaughterhouse, with sledgehammer marks on his forehead. This is the third such escapee in a short period of time, and a sign of the unbearable suffering buffaloes undergo before and during their slaughter.

Imagine the experience of a buffalo after being sold to a trader. The animal is either just a few months old, male, and off no use, or has loyally served a family as a ploughing, pulling or milking animal for years. The buffalo is walked down to the road head, forced into a truck, its nose tied, unable to move and with no access to water or food. Especially during blockades and monsoon the journey to the capital lasts an eternity. Upon arrival the buffalo is forced to jump off the truck and taken to an open air slaughterhouse. Here butchers attempt to kill the animal with knives and sledgehammers.

The recent incident shows our utter failure to implement the 1999 Animal Slaughterhouse and Meat Inspection Act. Seventeen years later it’s the same trucks and the same slaughter methods but now at a much larger scale. Each day 500 buffaloes are transported to the capital. When will we stop closing our eyes and ears to their suffering?

Kathmandu Municipality City recently announced it would phase out slaughterhouses and promote packaged meat from outside the valley. NOW is the time to do so. Support our campaign Stop the Trucks and Stop the Sledgehammers by speaking out for humane animal transportation and slaughter and by banning any product that involves abuse and cruelty.

Pramada Shah, President

animalnepalpramada@gmail.com

Cell: 9851041103