RITUAL HORSE SACRIFICE in SUMBA – Please Sign Petition

Image | Tribudragon

BACKGROUND FROM | CHANGE.ORG

The video below, filming Ritual Horse Sacrifice, speaks for itself.  It occurred on the island of Sumba in Eastern Indonesia which has numerous other  equally barbaric religious sacrifice traditions and events. Religious animal sacrifice is not yet banned throughout Indonesia and many different religions and belief systems still exist where the participants believe that violence towards animals will make gods and sprits happy with them.

The animals are killed in a variety of cruel and brutal ways which include stabbing them to death, slowly slitting shallow cuts to the throat, beheading, being torn apart alive by frenzied mobs, having their throat slit and head slowly torn off, burning alive, suffocation, live skinning, and removal of hearts whilst fully conscious. Body parts such as limbs are often also removed whilst the animals are still alive and fully conscious. They are normally  beaten and roughly handled by impatient “priests” and bound in painful ways before the actual sacrifice. Transport to the sacrifice is also horrendous and can involve tying and suspending large animals such as bovines by their feet from the roof of vehicles. Many animals are injured or die during the transport. Despite this outrageous abuse and blatant cruelty the Indonesian government subsidises and funds many of the sacrifices and events.

Children are taken to these events and subjected to terrifying scenes of  violence and abuse. They are visibly frightened and traumatised by what they see. Being exposed to such violence at such a young age can cause mental instability and pathological conditions and disorders.

Animal sacrifice is abhorrent, barbaric, pointless and cruel, we call on the government of Indonesia to ban all animal sacrifice, of all species of animal and involving all religious beliefs and traditions. It is 2011 and there is no place in the modern world for such vicious and mindless cruelty.

Extremely Graphic Video, Horse Sacrifice, Viewer Discretion Advised

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i sit in a 21st century haze
techology so fast
i am left in a daze
but as fast and
as powerful
as cyberspace
can fly
horrors such as this
abound
and i old fashioned,
cry:(

Karen Lyons Kalmenson