Sacrificial cattle get crane-lifted off Karachi rooftop
The three-day festival of Eid al Adha will be celebrated from August 12 in Pakistan this year.
KARACHI (Reuters) - An ox weighing more than 500 kilograms dangles in the air over a narrow alleyway in Karachi as onlookers, scattered below and on neighbouring rooftops, strain their necks to watch the spectacle.
Every year ahead of Eid al Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, a small collection of cows and oxen are lowered by crane from this rooftop in the congested Nazimabad neighbourhood to the delight of a curious and cheering crowd.
This year, five oxen and one cow took the journey ahead of the religious festival, one of the two most important ones in the Islamic calendar.
In Pakistan, it is generally acceptable for people to keep sacrificial animals outside their houses for a few days before Eid, but to leave them tethered in congested alleys for months would draw protests from other residents.
"We have made a proper place for them up here," said the 56-year-old owner of the animals, Syed Ejaz Ahmad, who initially chose to rear them atop his four-storey house because it made financial sense.
Ahmad has been rearing animals on his rooftop in the sprawling metropolis - Pakistan’s largest city - for the past 16 years. It didn’t take him long to realise his calves would inevitably grow too bulky to be manoeuvred down the stairs.
His solution? Call a crane service.
Crane operator Mohammad Nabeel has been by his side all along. "I was a bit scared when I came here to lower the cattle to the ground for the first time. I feared the animals might fall on top of the crowd of people or on electrical wires," Hanif said. "Now, I have had a lot of practice. I lower them to the ground without any hesitation."
Marking the willingness of Ibrahim, or Abraham, to sacrifice his son on God’s command, Muslims around the world celebrate the Eid holiday by slaughtering animals such as cattle and goats. The meat is shared among family and friends and also donated to the poor.
The three-day festival of Eid al Adha will be celebrated from August 12 in Pakistan this year.
