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Animal sacrifice that has been banned in the state was conducted on Saturday night at Angalaparameshwari Amman temple near Valluvar Kottam.
Several fowls and a male calf were sacrificed on Saturday night on the temple premises despite attempts by animal lovers to stall the ritual.
Huge crowd thronged the temple on Saturday night to take part in the ritual and special prayers to worship the goddess of the grave. Though police officers told TOI that priests had assured them that no animals will be sacrificed, temple authorities initiated the sacrifice by midnight on temple premise.
Blue Cross, an animal welfare group in the city, alerted the Animal Welfare Board of India on Friday. "AWBI had sent a letter to the city police commisisoner and corporation officials and we were also in touch with police. Unfortunately, authorities failed to prevent this primitive ritual that slaughtered several animals," said Sathya Radhakrishnan, joint secratary of Blue Cross.
"When a man possessed of the deity arrived, a mud idol of the goddess too was brought into the temple. Meat of fowls was kept inside. The man then jumped towards the birds, tore them to pieces and ate parts of them," said an eye-witness and a volunteer of Blue Cross on condition of anonymity.
BC Karthik, another Blue Cross volunteer who managed to capture pictures of sacrifice on his mobile camera, said dead chickens were strewn all around the place. "Around 10:45pm, the possessed man was brought into the temple. He was taken around the temple twice and I saw at least five people ripping apart the heads of chickens with their mouth, throwing away the twitching bodies, and dancing in a trance," said Karthik.
The Tamil Nadu Animals and Birds Sacrifices Prevention Act (1950) was enforced strongly in 2003 by the state government following reports of a sacrifice of over 500 buffaloes near Tiruchi.
Source: TNN / Chennai / 6 March 2011
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