Are you okay with sacrificing tortured animals on Eid?

Raja the sheep is so overfed he cannot walk. Does no one look into the eyes of these sad animals and see their pain?

Nadya V October 10, 2013
Hello people.

It’s been ages since I have written, but recently ET released a mini-story on Raja the sheep that made my blood run cold.

Trigger warning for anyone who loves animals, but this is the sad reality of Bakra Eid, which I have covered before in: Please don’t kill my goat and Please dont kill my goat or camel (II).

Raja the sheep is owned by Jaffar Khan, a ‘sheep enthusiast’ who needs to be put in jail for the horrifying torture he has subjected his pet to.



Let’s leave aside the fact that he plans to slaughter a creature he loves; this grinning brute of a man has fed Raja aslee ghee as well as four kilogrammes of milk every day…

The sheep now weighs 120kg – nearly double of what its normal weight should be.

Raja’s legs can barely hold him up; he finds it excruciatingly hard to even walk.



He totters and falls often. Raja is now a display ‘thing’ - a carnival ‘freak show’ that humans come to see and laugh at and taunt.



Does anyone here need to be reminded what a sheep’s natural diet is?

Does anyone here need an explanation of the terror an animal would feel is such a situation?

Raja is helpless. He is at the mercy of this brute of a man who has caused this darling sheep to suffer since birth.

I’m sorry Raja. My words and my tears cannot help you. I do not have enough of either, because yours is just one story of thousands of goats, sheep, cows and even camels who are now subjugated to such years-long abuse in the name of profiting off a religious day.

People cheer and clap and walk away with a sense of pride, having secured what they think is a worthy sacrifice for this holy day. They show off, then relish in the excess flesh they have secured for a hefty sum.

Am I the only one who finds this wrong?

Does no one look into the eyes of these sad animals and recognise what we are doing to them?

Someone please tell me I’m not the only one…
WRITTEN BY:
Nadya V Social critic and part-time gossip monger
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (83)

D.G. Sampath | 10 years ago | Reply I am one with U to share the agony of the helpless animals. I have written short stories in kannaDa language about the pathatic position of the speechless animals of even hindus doing the similar crime in the name of God. Shame on the part of the cruel people.
Anusha | 10 years ago | Reply I'm perfect vegetarian,,not because I'm a Hindu,,but bcoz i want to follow atleast some ideas of gandhi!!!!
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