Definition: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Input: A devotee slaughters a water buffalo during the celebration of the Gadhimai festival in Bariyarpur, Nepal, Nov. 28, 2014. Getty Images 
  
 A mass sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of animals that has taken place twice a decade in Nepal for two and a half centuries will draw to a close after the temple behind it banned slaughter on its premises. 
  
 “For generations, pilgrims have sacrificed animals to the Goddess Gadhimai, in the hope of a better life,” Ram Chandra Shah, chairman of the Gadhimai Temple Trust said in a statement Tuesday. “The time has come to replace killing and violence with peaceful worship and celebration.” 
  
 Thousands of Hindu pilgrims from India and Nepal take part in the Gadhimai festival every five years. In 2009, they sacrificed an estimated 500,000 buffalos, goats, chickens and other animals in the hope the slaughterings would bring well-being and prosperity to their families. 
  
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 But temple authorities have come under pressure in recent years from animal-rights activists, who petitioned India’s Supreme Court to ban cross-border transportation of animals for sacrifices in order to put a stop to the practice. 
  
 In 2014, the number of sacrifices at the festival dropped significantly after the court directed India’s government to ensure no animal was exported to Nepal from India without a license. 
  
 The temple trust acknowledged the efforts of animal rights groups as providing it with “motivation” to make the decision to ban the sacrifices. 
  
 “This is a tremendous victory for compassion that will save the lives of countless animals,” said Gauri Maulekhi, a consultant for the Indian office of Washington D.C.-based Humane Society International. “We commend the temple committee but acknowledge that a huge task lies ahead of us in educating the public so that they are fully aware.” 
  
 “We applaud the temple committee’s decision to end this mass slaughter of innocent animals and hope that they will continue to support us in our future endeavors for protecting animals in the country,” said Manoj Gautam, founding member of Animal Welfare Network Nepal. 
  
 Mr. Shah, chairman of Gadhimai Teple Trust, highlighted the need to educate the people to bring an end to the practice of animal sacrifice at the temple. He said with people’s help, the next festival will be free of violence against animals. 
  
 “With your help, we can ensure Gadhimai 2019 is free from bloodshed,” Mr. Shah said in the statement. “Moreover, we can ensure Gadhimai 2019 is a momentous celebration of life.” 
  
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 In a victory for activists, Nepalese temple authorities have announced they will end a centuries-old Hindu tradition of mass animal slaughter that attracts hundreds of thousands of worshippers. 
  
  
  
 The festival, held once every five years, sees hordes of devotees from Nepal and India flock to a temple in the Himalayan nation’s southern plains to sacrifice thousands of animals in the hope of appeasing the Hindu goddess of power, Gadhimai. 
  
 “We have decided to completely stop the practice of animal sacrifice,” said Motilal Prasad, secretary of the Gadhimai Temple Trust, which organises the celebrations. 
  
 “I realised that animals are so much like us – they have the same organs as us … and feel the same pain we do,” Prasad told AFP. 
  
 The practice of ritual sacrifice has a long history in Nepal, with devotees offering goats and buffaloes to gods during major festivals in the hope of finding health and happiness. 
  
 Some 2.5 million worshippers sacrificed an estimated 200,000 animals during the most recent instalment of the Gadhimai festival held last November in the village of Bariyapur near the Indian border. 
  
 “It won’t be easy to end a 400-year-old custom … but we have four years to convince people that they don’t need to sacrifice animals to please the goddess,” Prasad said. 
  
 Animal rights activists applauded the decision, which came after years spent lobbying temple authorities and the Nepal government in a campaign that attracted support from celebrities including British actress Joanna Lumley and French movie legend Brigitte Bardot. 
  
 “It has been a long effort … we took a firm stand and it has finally worked,” said Manoj Gautam, president of Animal Nepal Welfare Network. 
  
 “We realise that people have been victimised by superstition so building mass awareness is critical, but I am very hopeful that we will see a bloodless festival in 2019,” Gautam told AFP. 
  
 According to legend, the first sacrifices in Bariyapur were conducted several centuries ago when Gadhimai appeared to a prisoner in a dream and asked him to establish a temple to her. 
  
 When he awoke, his shackles had fallen open and he was able to leave the prison and build the temple, where he sacrificed animals to give thanks. |||||
Output:
The killing of Cecil the lion made this a depressing week for animal-rights supporters. Here's a counter-punch: A Hindu temple in Nepal has ended a centuries-old mass slaughter of animals that takes place every five years, reports the Wall Street Journal. Twice a decade for nearly 250 years, pilgrims would descend on the village of Bariyarpur and kill hundreds of thousands of buffaloes, goats, chickens, and other animals, offering them up to the goddess Gadhimai in the hope of a better life. "We have decided to completely stop the practice of animal sacrifice," an official with festival organizer Gadhimai Temple Trust tells AFP. "I realized that animals are so much like us—they have the same organs as us … and feel the same pain we do." Animal-rights activists had been stepping up their campaign to stop the sacrifices in recent years, with the estimated number of animals slaughtered dropping from 500,000 in 2009 to 200,000 last year. When the next festival rolls around in 2019, it should be a bloodless affair. (The worshipers believed that eating the dead animals will keep evil at bay.)