Nepal Hit By Severe Goat Shortage

BBC NEWS :

The authorities in Nepal have ordered officials to find more goats for ritual slaughter ahead of the country's biggest religious festival of the year.

Officials say that there is a severe shortage of goats to offer as sacrifice in the capital Kathmandu.

Read the whole story: BBC NEWS

Comments

[deepintheheartoftejas]

06:53 PM on 09/16/2009

'The reason for the shortage is unclear, but experts say it is mostly due to demand outstripping supply.'

I think goat hoarders and speculators are far more likely the cause, just like with oil. This is what comes of being dependent on a foreign goat supplier for your goats.

[Joethepauper]

03:52 PM on 09/16/2009

This reminds me of the Colbert Report last night, about Arizona trying sell it's Capitol building for $750 Million, so that they can make it through the year......and pay $60 Million in rent until it's paid-off (to the tune of $1.5 Billion). Here's an idea, Nepal: Stop sacrificing goats to a non-existant God for just one year and see how things work-out. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, and if the previous goat sacrificing festivals had appeased the Gods, they wouldn't be one of the poorest countries in the world. Either your God likes you, or he doesn't. Sacrificing goats probably doesn't impress God anymore. Stopping illegal wars/occupations would appease Him, but that's way beyond the limited political power of Nepal. Put the male and female goats together for a year, and there should be plenty of goats next year. Try it as an experiment.

[sc300nc]

03:51 PM on 09/16/2009

If they will accept old goats, we could ship them Nancy Pelosi.

[ModernTimesI]

12:45 AM on 09/16/2009

There has been a considerable export boom to caves of Afghanistan for lonely Jihadists.

[longtimegone]

04:19 AM on 09/16/2009

That didn't take long! Banned for your unceasingly malignant attitude, you've returned with your usual nastiness. Why do you hate goats so much? There's still no profile for you; how do we know you're not a ghost? a noxious vapor still clinging to earth after death as, sadly, you've nowhere else to go.

[Joethepauper]

04:12 PM on 09/16/2009

Guess which country's government hired the Bin Laden Group to build those caves?? Was that under a Republican or Democratic President? And when that group decided to attack us, which admin. ignored all the warnings, failed to prevent anything, and failed miserably at mitigation while the event took place, and mis-managed the counter-strike, costing trillions, while giving massive tax cuts to the wealthiest people on earth! Which President praised the Mujeheddin (today's Al Qaeda) as "courageous freedom-fighters"? Would it be difficult to imagine cooperation between the extremist political party and the extremist terr0rist organization? Especially when their families are so close?!

I'm assuming you meant for "companionship" or worse, but remember, a guy from S. Carolina just got busted for the second time having sex with the same horse.

[tbirdalum]

09:55 PM on 09/15/2009

Well, there was a man in SC who could show them how to switch to horses. He dated one for two years. I think he is going to petetion the court to allow conjugal visits. The horse misses him.

[Ozarks]

07:00 PM on 09/15/2009

Saw them at the Twelver march on Saturday. One was Glenn Beck's "date"

[sonoffestus]

04:51 PM on 09/15/2009

Maybe we can ship them the GOP?

[manndan]

01:32 PM on 09/16/2009

You beat me to it.

[longtimegone]

03:46 PM on 09/15/2009

Is Durga truly appeased by the flesh and blood of innocent goats? Has anyone ever tried skipping a year to test whether failure to slaughter a goat really results in disaster? Just a thought: perhaps they are scarce because they keep slaughtering them needlessly; or perhaps they take to the mountains to hide from Durga's minions. All types of milk goats are incredibly friendly, intelligent and clever; I do not regard their consumption by humans as moving protein up the food chain, not with the state of the average human at this, the tail end of the Kali Yuga. Raising and nurturing a few milk goats and learning to live on their milk, cheese and yogurt would engender compassion and right livelihood in the believer, whereas senseless slaughter debases the human and wastes the life of the animal.

[Vickster]

01:23 AM on 09/16/2009

Perhaps they're using Durga as an excuse to have a really big barbeque.

I've been raising dairy goats since 1983. As you say, they are friendly and clever creatures. They must also give birth before they can produce milk and half of their offspring will be males who are only good for meat. It takes one buck to breed a herd of does, therefore it makes no sense to use resources to support a large group of males when the same resources can be used to support females.

Meanwhile, winter is coming to Nepal. The wethers have been fattened on summer pasture. Now is the time to cull the herd to a size that can survive the sparse winter browse and throw one more party while the weather's still warm. Goat curry anyone?

[minimalist syntax]

02:55 AM on 09/16/2009

goat curry sounds really good actually. My mother-in-law was a shepherdess when she was young. They had sheep and goats.Whenever we are out driving in Greece and pass a flock of either sheep or goats she always comments on which animal looks the most tender.

[longtimegone]

04:13 AM on 09/16/2009

I believe that this is the third time we've crossed paths over the issue of dairy goats. You're right, of course, about the issue of excess males; I know that they are regarded as a nuisance, good for nothing but meat, (a view which is sometimes transferable to the human population). I've tended Boers, pure and crosses, and would have less trouble slaughtering them, as they have less personality than your Toggenburgs or my Nubians. Fact is, I don't know an owner of Nubians who is able to kill them; thus, I have two wethers and find they help keep does and doelings calmer. You do get my point about the benefits that caring for dairy goats would have on people in general?

[sixyfivepercentwater]

11:38 AM on 09/16/2009

My thoughts exactly. What happens if Durga is not "appeased?" If the heavens rain fire, then let's keep slaughtering goats by all means. But if the newspaper just arrives a little late, then maybe we should hold back and breed some goats for next year.

[davidwayneosedach]

02:54 PM on 09/15/2009

I imagine they will suffer greatly. The shortage of goats to slaughter.

[studmoose]

02:26 PM on 09/15/2009

If this were parts of Iraq, Greece, Pakistan, or most of the Red States...

I'd say the men would have to go back to having sex with women.

Ewww. Groooooossee! (Said like a goat would say it.)

[mikefina]

02:38 PM on 09/15/2009

Fortunately for the Red State men, that means ALL the Blue Stater's are in play--no MEN there. Not many pretty women either, but they've all got book-learnin.

[Grada3784]

02:16 PM on 09/15/2009

Send over a lot of Bible Belt farmboys. According to a Republican candidate for governor in Georgia, that will alleviate the problem almost immediately.

[mikefina]

01:45 PM on 09/15/2009

Birth rate plummets. Population crashes. Disco's empty.