Overview: Animal Welfare in Nepal
Nepal is a small, landlocked South Asian nation with extraordinary ecological diversity — spanning tropical lowlands (Terai), temperate hills, and the high Himalayas. Animals play central roles in Nepali culture, economy, and religion. Nepal is predominantly Hindu, with deep reverence for cows (legally protected as the national animal), alongside significant Buddhist communities in highland areas. This religious landscape creates complex and sometimes contradictory attitudes toward animal welfare.
Nepal faces significant animal welfare challenges spanning ritual sacrifice, working animal welfare, wildlife, and emerging commercial farming — all in the context of a lower-income country with limited regulatory capacity.
~500K
Working donkeys, mules, horses
~400
Wild one-horned rhinos in Chitwan NP
The Gadhimai Festival: World's Largest Animal Sacrifice
The Gadhimai festival, held every five years at Bariyarpur in southern Nepal, has historically been described as the world's largest animal sacrifice. In 2009, an estimated 200,000–500,000 animals were killed over two days, including buffalo, goats, pigs, chickens, and rats, offered to the goddess Gadhimai.
What Changed
Significant reform: Following sustained advocacy by Humane Society International, Animal Welfare Network Nepal, and others, the Gadhimai Temple Trust announced a formal end to animal sacrifice at the festival in 2015. The 2019 festival saw dramatically reduced sacrifice — though some sacrifice still occurred, it was a fraction of previous events. The 2024 festival continued this trend, with advocates working directly with community leaders and the temple trust.
Ongoing Challenges
Not completely eliminated: While official temple policy opposes sacrifice, enforcement across the large festival site is difficult. Smaller informal sacrifices continue in some areas. Community traditions are deeply embedded and change takes generations. Animals still suffer during transport to the festival site.
The Gadhimai case is studied globally as an example of culturally sensitive animal welfare advocacy achieving significant change through community engagement rather than confrontation.
Working Animals
Nepal relies heavily on working animals — horses, mules, donkeys, and yaks — particularly in mountain communities where roads are absent and animals are the only means of transport.
Pack Animals in the Himalayas
- Horses and mules carry loads for trekking groups and local communities on high-altitude trails
- Overloading is common; loads frequently exceed recommended welfare limits
- Wound infections, lameness, and inadequate nutrition are major welfare issues
- Veterinary access in remote mountain areas is extremely limited
- Yaks used as pack animals at high altitude face extreme cold, altitude-related stress, and overloading
Brooke Nepal: Operates welfare improvement programs for working horses, mules, and donkeys, training farriers, providing veterinary services, and educating owners on load management and health care. Has reached thousands of animals in accessible areas.
Cattle as Sacred and Working Animals
Nepal's constitution legally protects cows from slaughter (the cow is Nepal's national animal), creating an unusual situation where cattle welfare is complicated by sacredness. Old, sick, or infirm cattle cannot be slaughtered but may be abandoned or poorly cared for when they become economically unproductive. Gaushala (cow shelters) exist but are often overcrowded and underfunded.
Wildlife Welfare
Conservation Successes
Rhinoceros recovery: Chitwan National Park is a global conservation success story — the greater one-horned rhino population has grown from near extinction to over 700 individuals. Tiger populations in Chitwan and Bardia have also recovered significantly. Nepal has demonstrated that effective protected area management can achieve dramatic wildlife recovery.
Human-Wildlife Conflict
Ongoing challenge: As wildlife populations recover, human-wildlife conflict has increased. Elephants, rhinos, tigers, and leopards increasingly venture outside park boundaries, killing livestock and sometimes people. Retaliatory killing of wildlife, snaring, and poisoning occur. Electric fencing programs have helped in some areas but the conflict continues.
Wildlife Tourism and Elephant Welfare
Nepal's wildlife tourism industry includes elephant-back safaris in Chitwan, which have faced criticism for elephant welfare standards — training methods, working hours, chaining practices, and social conditions. Several operators have improved welfare standards following advocacy; some have transitioned to elephant-observation rather than riding models.
Livestock Farming and Dairy
Nepal's livestock sector is predominantly smallholder with cattle, buffalo, goats, and pigs most significant for meat and dairy production:
- Buffalo dairy is widely consumed; welfare standards in smallholder systems are mixed but often better than intensive operations in neighboring countries
- Commercial poultry farming is growing rapidly; battery cage systems are used without restriction
- Pig farming in Terai communities faces emerging intensification pressures
- Mountain goat herding is traditional; pastoral welfare concerns include nutritional stress and predation
Slaughter practices: Ritual slaughter for festivals (Dashain, Tihar) involves killing large numbers of animals annually, usually without stunning. Commercial slaughter also occurs without stunning requirements. Nepal has no pre-slaughter stunning regulations.
Legal Framework
| Law | Coverage | Effectiveness |
|---|
| Animal Welfare Act 2018 | Comprehensive; covers all vertebrates; prohibits cruelty; sets standards | Limited enforcement; landmark legislation |
| National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973 | Wildlife protection in parks and reserves | Relatively effective in protected areas |
| Constitution of Nepal 2015 | Cow protection (Article 51) | Enforced via cattle slaughter ban |
Progress: Nepal passed the Animal Welfare Act in 2018 — one of the more comprehensive animal welfare laws in South Asia. It includes provisions on animal transport, slaughter, keeping conditions, and prohibits cruelty. Implementation remains limited but the legal foundation is significantly better than many neighboring countries.
Key Organizations
- Humane Society International Nepal: Gadhimai reform, stray dog sterilization, wildlife advocacy
- Brooke Nepal: Working animal welfare programs in mountain communities
- Animal Welfare Network Nepal (AWNN): National advocacy organization; central to Gadhimai reform
- World Animal Protection Nepal: Welfare programs including dog vaccination and sterilization
- WWF Nepal: Tiger, rhino, and snow leopard conservation
- Wildlife Conservation Nepal: Research and advocacy for wildlife protection
Priority Recommendations
- Fully implement the 2018 Animal Welfare Act through training enforcement officers and establishing dedicated animal welfare units in police
- Expand working animal welfare programs into remote mountain communities currently unreached
- Develop human-wildlife coexistence programs to reduce retaliatory killing
- Introduce pre-slaughter stunning requirements for commercial slaughterhouses
- Improve gaushala (cow shelter) conditions through funding and management training
- Regulate commercial poultry farming welfare, particularly battery cage systems