The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) India has written to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to immediately check the illegal transportation and smuggling of animals from the state to Nepal for the Gadhimai festival — considered the world’s largest festival for animal sacrifice.

The three-day festival at Gadhimai Temple, held every five years in the Bara district of Nepal, is scheduled from December 7 to 9 this year. Lakhs of animals and birds are expected to be slaughtered as a ritual offering to appease the Goddess.

“We are requesting your office to guard against the transportation of animals from Bihar to Nepal for Gadhimai Festival. We appeal to the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Bihar Police to keep a vigil on all border outposts for this. The steps are necessary not only to stop illegal transportation and cruel killing of animals in such festivals, but also to check another epidemic. Your leadership will help protect Indian animals and public health,” Kiran Ahuja, PETA India manager of vegan projects, wrote in the letter to Kumar on Wednesday.

The missive also gives reference to the 2014 case of Gauri Mulekhi vs Union of India and others in which the Supreme Court accepted the smuggling of animals at the India-Nepal border and directed the officials to ensure that no live animal is exported from India, barring those under license in the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992.

“Despite this, reports indicate that cattle, goats, chickens and other animals are being taken through East Champaran, West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Supal, Madhubani, Araria and Kishanganj districts to Nepal. There is an immediate need to strengthen the enforcement system there,” the Peta India letter further said.

Asserting that the World Health Organisation has cautioned about 75 per cent of the emerging infections being of zoonotic origin, the missive pointed out that the animals are slaughtered in the pen they are kept at the Gadhimai festival and the blood, body fluids and other body parts are left in the open.

The people and priests of the temple come in contact with them leading to the possibility of the spread of various diseases including avian influenza, anthrax, hydatidosis, leptospirosis, brucellosis, tuberculosis and salmonellosis.

Meanwhile, the police in the East Champaran district arrested 15 people and recovered around 100 goats and pigeons from them. They were being taken to Nepal to be sacrificed at the Gadhimai festival.

“We have alerted all police stations in our district to check the smuggling of cattle, animals and birds,” East Champaran superintendent of police (SP) Swarn Prabhat said.