73,000 sheep sacrificed during Eid Al Adha — GAM

AMMAN — Some 73,119 sheep were sacrificed during the Eid Al Adha holiday, an official at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) said.

According to executive manager of GAM’s health inspection department, also in charge of the eid sacrifices programme Yasar Khitan, the municipality made some 127,403 sheep available for sacrifice in 2018, through 393 facilities across the capital.

By celebrating Eid Al Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice, Muslims mark the end of a major ritual in Islam, the Hajj or the greater pilgrimage to Mecca. In Eid Al Adha, Muslims of sufficient means are required to sacrifice livestock in remembrance of Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail to God, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Some 20.5 tonnes of sheep bowels and an overall of five sheep were disposed of, while 12 sacrifices of sheep and lamb were rejected for health reasons, Khitan added, noting that GAM deployed 12 specialised teams with 50 veterinarians on board to oversee health inspections throughout the municipality’s facilities.

As a result, 199 unlicensed barns and slaughterhouses were removed and 163 violation tickets were issued.

Earlier this month, GAM had announced 12 locations across Amman for selling and slaughtering sheep, according to Khitan, who noted that the sites were selected upon a study which took into consideration the locations’ distance from residential areas, ease of access, environmental factors, and health and public safety requirements.

An average number of 300,000-350,000 head of sheep are sacrificed each year during Eid Al Adha, according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture.