Kathmandu, Nov 15 : With Nepal's coalition government refusing to ban the biggest slaughter of animals ever at a religious fair in the Terai plains, the republic's animal lovers are now pinning their faith on neighbour India putting a brake on the killings.

Two animal rights groups in Nepal that are spearheading a campaign to stop the wanton sacrificing of hundreds of thousands of birds and animals at the fair at the temple of Hindu goddess Gadhimai in Bara district on the India-Nepal border, Sunday said they have asked the Indian government to prevent the smuggling of animals and fowls from India.

Animal Welfare Network Nepal (AWNN), an organisation headed by former Nepal king Gyanendra's niece-in-law Pramada Shah, and Anti-Animal Sacrifice Alliance (AASA) said they have handed over a petition at the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, urging the Indian government to prevent the transport of thousands of bulls, goats and other animals and birds from India's neighbouring states.

Indian devotees from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are said to form the bulk of the visitors to the Gadhimai temple during the fair that is held once in every five years.

"The animals are smuggled from India, evading quarantines," said Shah. "In 1995, a cattle-borne disease entered Nepal through the fair. This time, we fear the spread of bird flu and swine flu.

"We are therefore asking the Indian government to stop the rampant smuggling and prevent further outbreak of diseases."

The two Nepali organisations have been joined by PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) and Beauty without Cruelty in India, which has asked the governments of India's bordering states to stop the illegal transport of animals from India to Nepal.

The organisers said they have been heartened by reports that India's border security force, the Sashastra Seema Bal, has been put on alert in three districts in Bihar - East and West Champaran and Sitamarhi - to prevent the smuggling of birds and beasts meant to be sacrificed.

"We are very pleased to learn that the Indian government is taking the grave health risks involved in the mass sacrifice seriously," the Nepal organisations said.

According to AASA, the biggest slaughter of animals in the world is driven by commercial interests, not piety.

Leather entrepreneurs from India bid for the hides of the butchered animals, whose carcasses are left to rot on the ground and deals worth millions of rupees have already been struck, according to it.

While India and Nepal continue to revel in the festival of blood, western tourists have given the thumbs-down to an equally cruel sport.

Hari Bansha Acharya, one of Nepal's best loved actors who has joined the campaign to prevent the slaughter, said in the past, the hotels in Chitwan in southern Nepal would tether animals to trees to lure tigers and other beasts of prey.

It was done to please tourists, who, it was thought, would love the sight of the big cats coming out.

However, masses of western tourists opposed the act, calling it barbaric, Acharya said.

"People wrote protesting petitions saying why don't you tie up your ministers instead and the act was dropped," the actor said.(ians)