The weekend I witnessed two animal deaths - one planned, one not

This weekend has been really busy because of the Dasain festival. It lasts 15 days and a lot of the city is shut down during this time. I have spent most of it up at the refuge helping out with the children and taking part in the festivities. It was also my first solo trip up there involving a short walk and two buses. I failed at the first hurdle (I blame the lack of buses) and took a taxi to the bus station. After finding the right stop I was really pleased to be put in the front seat since there is a bit more room, although I still shared it with a woman and her baby who got on afterwards. I may have mentioned before how manic the driving is. Everyone drives as fast as is possible (which depends on the traffic). There is a lot of overtaking and continual beeping horns. All the time. There are no demarcations on the road but people generally stick to the left. There is very little giving way although I sense some deference from drivers of smaller or older cars. Basically it is pretty hairy at times.
Bearing all this in mind the dog didn't stand a chance. The driver did beep the horn a lot. But there was no slowing down. It just looked up confused before hitting the bumper right under me and being taken under :(
That was number one. The accidental one.
At the refuge I was met by a lovely brown goat (hope to have a photo soon - camera had no battery). He was looked after well by the children and the boys took him into their house for the night, keeping him well fed and watered. The next day was 'pujar' (I think that's what it's called) when animals are sacrificed to bless motorised vehicles. The school bus, 4 x 4 and two refuge motorbikes were the subjects of the day and a long time was devoted to making up 'tika' (no idea about spelling) and decorating the bodywork and engines with fruits and other items. Above you can see the hubcaps decorated with yellow and red tika mixture and the engine of the car with a banana and coconut, pieces of sugarcane and more tika mixture.
I had intended to be present for the goat sacrifice but was in an upstairs room when I heard a commotion. I didn't hear the goat and it seems to have been really quick, the bus driver (the 'pundit' trained to carry out the deed) had a long sword and took the head off in one. I did see a whole bowl of blood being carried past which I understood would be used to cover the vehicles but that didn't seem to happen. I also saw a lot of small boys holding the goat head aloft!
Apparently over this weekend hundreds of goats and buffalo are sacrificed in the main square in Kathmandu.
However it was maybe less of a big deal than I thought. A few hours later I walked back towards the office and did actually get to view the slaying of a goat by the next door family. It was witnessed only by two small children (and me) and this time after slitting the throat a little the beast was dragged around each hubcap to bloody. This time it seemed a little drawn out.
It should be noted that not all vehicles are blessed in this way. BK from work asured me that his motorbike had a vegetarian blessing!