Zuma asked to end bull-killing ritual

Barbarian practices like these have no place in a civilised society. Zuma has to agree to Peta's request.

Tradition, just like religion, has a way of screwing society up

Barbarian practices like these have no place in a civilised society. Zuma has to agree to Peta's request - He probably would like to, but he first has to get the nod from Julius!

Its ok to respect culture and Tradition But for goodness sakes those poor animals. Don't you people respect them. It makes me sick to think of what those poor animals have to go through. Please something has to be done !!!!!!!!!!!!

Culture is not a sacred cow (no pun intended)- neither is it above the law. This heinous act is not only primitive and superstitous- how can you create one iota of happiness or auspicousness by throttling an animal to death in agony? - it is illegal in terms of the Animal Protection Act.

The act is also cowardly not manly- 40 young strong human beings against one bull- come one Zulu people who are you kidding?? REAL MEN DON'T KILL - THEY RESPECT AND REVERE LIFE

Tradition is not an excuse for those poor bulls to be brutally murdered! This must stop now! Have a heart and move forward with the times. Humanity is modern, after all, we are in 2009!

The bulls do not deserve such treatment, they too are Gods living creatures with feelings..

Cultural liberty at the expense of animal welfare. Following that philosophy any evil deed can be rationalised. Homo Sapiens Sapiens indeed... Great sense of sarcasm we as a species have.

Lets see the same venom directed at the Zulu tradition, directed also to the long existing bull fighting. By the way some affording people leave SA to attend festivals where bull fighting takes place. I have no problem with Zuma stopping this bull killing ritual but why not address them all not just the Zulu tradition, all cultures where animals are brutalised. Dont make Africa the dark continent, Europe has these brutalities as well. ADDRESS THEM PETA.

PETA has since 2005 been tackling Spain about bullfighting See: http://www.runningofthenudes.com/ Let's not distract from the fact Mamotho that animal abuse is taking place in our backyard RIGHT NOW. let's address this issue and do something about it, instead of making excuses by pointing at other examples of animal abuse.

This horrifying, cruel slaughter must end now - it is time for a new tradition.

I think that one should educate themselves first and then speak from a place of knowledge, not sweet ignorance wrapped up in concern. If we say that this "ritual" has no place in modern society, then i beg that we look at other rituals wrapped up in modernity and then classed as being okay because it is a western society or faction that is practising the act.
In India, elephants are paraded and used as domestic animals in rituals and in daily life. In China, dogs are eaten. In Spain, the Pampolona bullfights. Some of these are cultural, others are old ways and that have become ingrained into the cultures. There is a purpose behind this practice and until the practising faction realises or deems that this manner of practising tradition, no longer holds water, then can we - as Zulus - reject this practice. That it is not performed daily, nor all throughout the country by all Zulus, but within a controlled and purposeful area and with a specific agenda, attests to the respect and deep rooted cultural relevance that this practice has in the culture. It should not be abandoned simply because someone who has no understanding of where this specific aspect of culture features as a whole in the tapestry and context of Zulu traditions.

While we're at it then maybe disguising slaughterhouses as a modern, humane means of killing cattle so that we can eat beef burgers begs to be interrogated. Bashing in skulls using shiny equipment is no better than using your hands. At least the Zulus who practice this ritual, arent mincing and dicing truths and realities for their own comfort and jaded interests.

I'm not English, however I find it rather interesting that one nation can impose their dominance in this way, maybe we should also explain the "the nice way to die", I realy have never heard of one, unless offcoarse one had an experience to have died and woke up again, and secondly why do we have guns, I here a lot of white people are crying for the people to be hanged (death sentance) I thought hanging someone was very "inhumane" way of killing anyone, and maybe it si true that the life of an animal is more important then the life of a black man......., we have white hunters who shoot animals everyday as a sport and I've watched a documentary where some of the wild animal they shoot took long to die after they're shot, and now the very same white people are running after one ritual that takes place once a year, I one bull a year comparing to alot of crueetly for fun that happens everyday...and guess what this has just mobilised a lot of AmaZulu to all go in numbers to KwaNongoma to perfome this ritual and NOTHING WILL AND CAN STOP US......you can shout until you're blue in your faces but come December we will kill the Bull and maybe this time we will kill two of Three Bulls.....

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) -- The two-day ritual slaughter of tens of thousands of animals -- among the world's largest sacrifice of animals -- began Tuesday in southern Nepal, officials said.

About 200,000 animals, including male water buffalo, goats and roosters will be slaughtered, despite protests from animal rights activists, according to the chief priest of the festival.

People from Nepal and India sacrifice animals to the goddess Gadhimai in the Bara district, about 150 kilometers (about one mile) south of Kathmandu, in thanks for wishes granted.

"This is a divine power center," Mangal Chaudhary, the head priest of the Gadhimai temple, said by phone. "When people wish for a son, a job, good health or anything else come true, they make an offering to the Gadhimai goddess."

He expects more than 5 million people -- 60 percent from India, which shares an open border with Nepal -- to attend the festival.

About 15,000 male water buffalo will be slaughtered, up from 12,000 five years ago, said Chaudhary, who is the 10th generation of his family to serve as chief priest.

Water buffalo are slaughtered on the first day, and other animals on the second day.

Government officials say they cannot stop the centuries-old tradition, despite opposition from animal-rights activists from Nepal and India.

"This is a matter of people's religion and belief," said chief district officer Tara Nath Gautam, the highest-ranking government official in Bara.

Animal rights activists say they aren't looking for a sea change.

"We do not expect this practice to stop overnight. A sustained effort is needed so that, sometime, the practice will end," said Nepali animal rights activist Pramada Shah.

Though meat from the sacrificed animals is given to devotees, the hides of water buffalo are taken by the festival management committee to sell. The heads are buried on the temple premises, which spread over three square kilometers, Chaudhary said.

Buffalo is eaten by low castes in Nepal and India, but goat meat is eaten by a wider population.

An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 goats are sacrificed, Chaudhary said.

... Just a thought. Maybe we should leave it to the Zulus to decide their own fate y dont we.

Bull-killing Raises the stakes on the South African culture debate. The media bring it into public light, the what, the how, the when. They drop it there in the midst of us like the bull itself and leave us at it. The oppositions are galvanised on their sides glaring at eachother and hurling charges of inhumanness and cultural repression.
The animal rights activists are going to court after trying several times to get a response from the royal Zulu House. An interdict will do little in the long run for the forces at play are larger than a court can handle. Yes, I said it, there are things in this country that run deeper and have power that can overwhelm our legal system. The last time I checked, the courts of this country are means of last resort. It is bringing brute force to bare on a situation which must be beyond the possibility of mediation or common understanding.
Just as I do not think we can use the court system to negotiate our ongoing experiment called “South Africa”, I think in matters of cultural debate it is important that we hold our civil society above that of both the legal structures and the media. I suggest we calm down the rhetoric and approach this in a dignified manner respecting difference and history and our future together. Get the leaders together, those we hold up as thoughtful and significant representatives of our many cultures, to discuss this issue.
We all have our ways of recognising and valuing what a “man “ is. Though these ways are not just the same from culture to culture, there are strong commonalities. I suggest when this group meets (and I hope it does) they first address this question holding up powerful and meaningful rites of passage in various cultures as a a boy passes into manhood. After a strong and positive discussion about this, we might then be able to address the particulars of this bull ceremony and its proper place in our common society.
As Ben Franklin said while the Americans were planning their revolution: “We must hang together or surely we will hang separately.”
Good Luck, Everyone!
Ford Evanson, Grahamstown

I suppose we will have to allow, by law, men to beat their wives with a stick of no more than a mans thumb width, and to take away women's right to vote for the government they want, and to submit to being the 'property' of the men we marry? Oh. I forgot, we live in SA and most of the traditional laws here are at least 1000 years old. Why then would we want to change anything? Society should evolve and not stay mired in the past where cuelty to both animals and humans is lauded but living in harmony with each other and nature is an anathenism. Somehow the thought of watching the latest barbaric acts of killing bulls on utube is not very appealing and an anachrism to say the least.