With only few days left before the second biggest religious festival of Holy Eid Ul Azha, every Muslim household is making preparations. The festival falls after Qurbani, the Holy Sacrifice of Animals, when most religious Muslims sacrifice a cow. But, with the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States, people are ambivalent. Now many people are waiting to see if there is any update on the situation before Eid.

Many grocers say that they have not received orders for Qurbani, and that the orders received are mostly for goats. Comparatively speaking, the goat supply in the market is poor. Mujibur Rahman of Mannan Grocery in Jackson Heights said that the orders for sacrificial animals would be in full swing starting this week. Kamal of the Jackson Heights Fish market said that they are receiving a few orders now, but the real orders would come by mid-January, although buyers are expressing concern about the disease.

According to Jalal Ahmed of Shaibal Grocery in Elmhurst, many people have not yet come to any decision about Qurbani, since the majority of people prefer the cow as a sacrificial animal. He expected that buyers would come to a decision by next week. Mr. Anwar, the owner of the Meghna Grocery on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, suspects that this year’s orders for sacrificial animals will be down.

Grocers in Jamaica, Jackson Heights and Brooklyn told Bangla Patrika that because of mad cow disease in United States, many Bangladeshi people are thinking of observing Qurbani in their native country. Grocers in other locations like Manhattan, Ozone Park and the Bronx, are having the same experience. Most buyers are still undecided and if there was no decision made about the danger of mad cow disease, the Qurbani festival won’t gain momentum this year.