Animal sacrifice in the open

I am reproducing below, relevant extracts of mail exchanges on the subject in "OneBengaluru Google-group" (there is an unwritten code in the group that such involved discussions should not be encouraged, and that it is meant largely for exchanging information - well, I guess, that's where PRAJA comes in):

It all started with Mr P making an opening remark as below:
Hope Everyone of us know that there is festival called Bakrid and during this time we see so many cows going down and they sacrifice in the name of god lakhs of cows are getting wiped each year, why don;t we take some steps to stop this!!
Its so sad being educated this peoples still follow this blind belief!

NS responded with:
It's not cows. It's Goats. That's why they call it Bakrid.
 
So what exactly is your point ? Every religion has "blind beliefs". If you are offended by animal slaughter, you always have the choice to be vegetarian. I think we have enough controversy and division in this country without trying to create unnecessary further controversies. Or is it your case that because you personally are offended by goats being slaughtered, everyone else should also stop eating non-vegetarian food ?

And then by extension, because some people are offended by liquor consumption, the rest of us should also become teetotallers ?

P came back with:
I think nitin is in india or US ??? IF you are in india u would have not told that they are sacrificing Goat you see majority of them sacrificing cow check the survey you will get better knowledge on it!!

I don't mean don't sacrifice at all for there  festival in the name of god , they can sacrifice like this also for each mosque where they got to pray they can sacrifice just one per mosque that way there won't be any such stupid inhuman things happening . I could see 3 cows per house at the moment in my place ..

we can stop this being educated think in positive way .,.  I dnt mean stay veg though i m not vegetarian but have some humanity

I responded with:
Are you saying the slaughter is happening out in the open?

Last Sunday (I don't know what the occasion was), a group of men got together, brought a goat in a van to a local temple (generally disused), and, amidst loud drum-beats, sacrificed it, supposedly to propiate the god. More men joined later - some came in cars, some on bikes. They all eventually got drunk, and were seen cavorting to item number music, blaring out from one of the cars, and feasting on the goat that had by then been turned into kebabs, I guess.

This was all happening in broad daylight, out in an open area, disturbing the overall peace in a residential area in Koramangala. Now, this is the kind of obscenity I can't stand, and would normally have liked to complain to the police about. But, knowing that the first thing that the police generally does is to give away the complainant's number, therewith setting off another chain of problems, I desisted. Fortunately, it didn't last for beyond my endurance limit that afternnon, and that way, I escaped having to pursue another issue, at least for now. But, there is a lurking suspicion that I am not finished with it yet.

So, if the talk is about these so-called sacrifices happening out in the open, whether of cows or goats, yes, it's perhaps time they are put a stop to. As much as there are the religious sentiments and sensibilities of the sacrificers, there are of the other members of the public, who don't believe in them, too.

Muralidhar Rao