Meaty Needs

Goats being sold for sacrificial purpose on Eid-ul-Azha – Photo:Bilal Bahadur.

As Eid-ul-Azha, a Muslim holy day marked by sacrificing animals sets in,  all play grounds, public parks, parking places and even roadsides have become market places for sacrificial animals. Besides the usual phenomenon of shopping, people are found bargaining at these places usually a week ahead of Eid with the dealers of different varieties of sacrificial animals (goats and sheep).

To serve the purpose of Eid-ul-Azha, people always prefer to buy most beautiful and healthy animals. Jumma, a 110-kg, pure white colour sheep attracted the crowd at Eidgah Park in Srinagar on Wednesday where he was put up for sale by its owner. People who had come to buy sacrificial animals were so fascinated that they started the bid for the white sheep from Rs 55, 000. Due to continuous bidding, Jumma was not sold till this report was filed.

Animals with beauty and elegance are always eye-catchers on such festivities as people prefer to buy special ones.  “Muslims all over the world don’t sell or buy sacrificial animals according to weight. It is the looks and the strength that matter while buying an animal. It involves religious sentiments”, says Khazir Muhammad Rigoo, president, All Kashmir Wholesale Mutton Dealers Union.

Few years back, the introduction of camel in the sacrificial animal market took everyone in Kashmir by surprise. The desert animal gave people one more option since the meat of camel is not available in Kashmir. The arrival of camel was well taken and last year few local dealers imported around 100 camels for sacrificial purposes in J&K. This year, due to high rates, only two camels were seen in Kashmir. more