More than 250,000 animals are being lined up for slaughter as Nepal embarks on a two-day religious festival where buffalo, birds and goats are sacrificed to appease a Hindu goddess.
Millions of Hindus flock to the ceremony, which is held every five years at the temple of Gadhimai, the goddess of power, in Bariyarpur, Nepal, near the Indian border.
The last time the festival was held, in 2009, more than 250,000 animals were killed, according to animal rights organisation PETA, who is campaigning to put a stop to the practice.
Offer to the gods: Thousands of buffalo lie dead in a field after being sacrificed for a religious holiday in near the Indian border in Nepal
A butcher walks with a bloodied blade as he looks for an animal to kill during a mass slaughter to celebrate the start of the Gadhimai festival
Religious killing: A butcher gets ready to kill a buffalo during a mass slaughter of the animals for the Gadhimai festival inside a walled enclosure in the village of Bariyapur, near the temple of Gadhimai, the goddess of power
Field of meat: The festival is held for two days and is kicked off with a mass-slaughter of buffalo, after which hundreds of thousands of animals are sacrificed to the goddess
A severely injured water buffalo awaits its slaughter as a devotee prepares to cut off the animal's head in front of watching crowds
The festival is 'kicked off' with the ritual slaughter of five thousand buffalo in a field near the temple, after which two days of ritual animal slaughter takes place.
Animal rights activists such as PETA are campaigning to halt the mass animal-slaughter, but despite their efforts, the organisers of the festival has promised that this year will be the biggest yet.
About 2.5 million devotees have turned out for the festival, according to local government official Yogendra Prasad Dulal, who said it was 'impossible to estimate' the total number of animals sacrificed so far.
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