2010 Soccer World Cup Animal Sacrifice Planned
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Erlyn Garrison, TheWordWright.WordPress.com
October 2009

Reuters reported that South Africa is considering an application by ‘Traditional Leaders’ to sacrifice animals at the 2010 FIFA Soccer World cup scheduled to take place in June of next year.

The FIFA Soccer World Cup is inarguably the premier football event internationally and probably the most watched sporting event in the world. The upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup is set to take place between the 11th of June and the 11th of July next year in South Africa – the 19th time that the event will take place.

South Africa had to compete long and hard against 203 other soccer playing countries, pulling all stops – including the involvement of the much respected, iconic Nelson Mandela – to try and secure our position as host to the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. I still remember the jubilation with which the FIFA Executive Committee’s decision was met in May 2004 to grant rights to the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup to South Africa. An African FIRST!

The rest is history. Stadiums were built – even in economically non-viable areas – and infrastructure was created in anticipation of the enormous influx of soccer enthusiasts from all over the world. The fact that government spend is MORE than the income to be derived from the event, is incidental. The FIFA Soccer World Cup is creating employment for the ordinary person on the street, marketing opportunities for business and pressure on the government to stamp out crime (albeit that the success of the latter endeavour is questionable).

Just when we thought that is should be smooth sailing from here on end, Reuters broke the news.

South African ‘traditional leaders’ intend performing ritual animal slaughters in order to bless the Soccer Football Stadiums to be used during the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. Zolani Mkiva, chairman of the Makhonya Royal Trust, said the tournament has to to be blessed in true “African style” and that they are going to slaughter cows in sacrifice at each of the 10 stadiums to be used for the event.

See the video; here is how it happens:

The cow’s legs are tethered together and she is flipped on her side. You can hear her moaning. She is held down by two or three people while a fourth one is standing by with a small dish and a fifth person wields the knife.

They slit her throat, but the animal does not die. She screams and struggles, trying to throw off her assailant. He stumbles backwards and comes for her again, cutting some more. Her eyelids are still batting and her eyes are filled with panic and fear as he hacks away at her throat. She continues struggling weakly as the man with the dish approaches her to catch the blood spurting from her arteries.

She still is not dead. There is no post- or pre-incision stunning.

It will take a while before she will have bled enough to die – much longer than the 51 second YouTube clip embedded in this blog.

Now, I cannot help but wonder whether the South African application to the FIFA World Cup Executive Committee ever disclosed the possibility of ritual animal slaughter. Probably not, even though some of the South African delegates MUST have known that this was likely to happen. After all, some of them will have participated in such slaughters before. I also have to wonder whether the FIFA World Cup Executive Committee would have awarded the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup rights to South Africa had they known. I seriously doubt it.

Some sources state that the South African SPCA has been made aware of the application and that they will be involved. Now THAT is a farce in its own right! In South Africa THOUSANDS of animals are ritually slaughtered every year while the SPCA turns a convenient blind eye to the proceedings – all in the name of ’culture‘.

Will the application to the South African FIFA Soccer World Cup Committee by these ‘traditional leaders’ be approved? Well, your guess is as good as mine. Here ANYTHING is possible, including approval. After all, we do have a propensity for erring on the side of having populist political leaders.

My little voice is screaming STOP. But it is guaranteed to remain unheard. Hence this blog. I also started a petition to help prevent this abomination. Whether your national team is playing in the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup or not, please sign and ask others to sign too. I will be blogging about this every day in an attempt to reach more people and promoting this story as far and as wide as I can. I ask you to do the same too.

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