The ritual animal sacrifice abolition movement is a loose term used to describe a broad grassroots campaign of individuals, NGOs, and media outlets. It aims for an end to ritualistic animal sacrifice as a practice by seeing it become legally prohibited and socially unacceptable in all jurisdictions.

Eid al-Adha is an annual event where Muslims (including Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Ibadi Muslims, and their numerous jurisprudential divisions) engage in the ritualistic killing of goats, lambs, and other animals. The ritualised killing is usually performed as a group act, often in the presence of children. Eid al-Adha clearly meets the criteria for animal abuse because it involves forcibly corralling an animal, pinning it to the ground to restrain it, and slicing into the animal’s neck to drain it of its blood—all of which is done while the animal remains fully conscious. Eid al-Adha is known to be celebrated by Muslims situated in Melilla.

The Gadhimai festival is an event where Hindus engage in the ritualistic killing of goats, buffaloes, and other animals. The ritualised killing is centred around a Nepalese temple near the border between Nepal and India and takes place every few years. The Gadhimai festival meets the criteria for animal abuse because the process involves the killing of a large number of animals as a form of public spectacle in an unnecessary act of mass violence. Gadhimai is not known to be celebrated by the Hindus resident in Melilla.

Eid al-Adha is typically celebrated in places lacking basic human and animal rights such as Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Somalia, and Taliban Afghanistan. It is therefore highly unusual that Melilla’s councillors would want to add their city to such a list. One possible explanation is that many on Melilla’s city council may not be aware of the negative perception a festivity of ritual animal sacrifice has outside of Melilla and how off-putting it is to prospective tourists from developed societies. Those who have grown up around Eid al-Adha may be especially oblivious to the fact that ritualistic animal sacrifice is not considered a practice of a modern, civilised society.

Societies can certainly learn to let go of barbaric practices, no matter how deeply entrenched they are. Slavery is a prime example of this. The slave trade did take a long time for some people to abolish; France’s King Louis X issued an abolition decree for metropolitan France in 1315 while Mauritania’s President Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla only outlawed slavery by decree in 1981. Abolition therefore took a while to catch on in some places, but today slavery is legally prohibited in all jurisdictions. There is no credible reason why ritual animal sacrifice cannot similarly be abolished. Just like slavery though, it will require the courage of everyone—both politicians and citizens— to stand up for what is right and to reject practices which are backward and cruel. Of course, those who continue to defend ritual animal sacrifice will undoubtedly be viewed negatively by later generations, just as those who proudly defended slavery in the past few centuries are viewed today.

Celebrated animal rights campaigner and Legion d’honneur recipient Brigitte Bardot has repeatedly campaigned against various forms of animal abuse, including Eid al-Adha specifically, as well as other instances of ritual animal sacrifice. More information on her French animal rights charity can be found here. Animal Equality also has campaigned against animal abuse in ritual animal sacrifice and more information on this organisation can be found here (or for their Spanish branch, Igualdad Animal, here).