Animal sacrifices are on the rise in New York City, with pigs, rats and birds being tortured to death as part of religious rituals.
Carcasses of several animals have been found in the areas around Jamaica Bay and Howard Beach, which have now been dubbed “sacrifice coasts.”
At least nine injured or dead creatures have been discovered in the past month, including five live pigs with their ears partially cut off. The New York Post information.
Local shelter Zion’s Animal Rescue Mission blamed the recent killings on a “rogue Hindu sect and black magic Santeria.”
The group shared distressing images showing a dog with a broken neck, a rooster with its head severed and a rat sealed inside a bag of chicken bones as part of their gruesome discoveries.
Animal sacrifices are on the rise in Queens, New York, where pigs, rats and birds have been discovered tortured to death as part of religious rituals.
The waterway has long been used by religious groups for prayer and offerings due to the area’s large Guyanese and Indo-Caribbean Hindu population.
Offerings typically take the form of flowers and fruit, but activists say animal sacrifices have been common for “decades.”
The right to sacrifice animals for religious reasons was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1993.
However, animal cruelty remains a felony in New York, punishable by up to two years in prison.
Rescuers Sloane Quealy and Kim Fraser have told how they recently came to the aid of three pigs that were discovered in boxes on Howard Beach, near some rolled up prayer flags.
“We found a burnt barrel with pieces of rooster carcass and feathers all over it,” Quealy explained.
‘We had also seen a man go out that night with only a shovel. They dig deep holes to contain the birds.
‘Rescuers have been recovering live and dead animals for years.’
Carcasses of several animals have been found in the areas around Jamaica Bay and Howard Beach, which have now been dubbed ‘sacrifice coasts’.
The waterway has long been used by religious groups for prayer and offerings due to the area’s large Guyanese and Indo-Caribbean Hindu population.
Now Quealy, Fraser and other animal rights activists are campaigning for more oversight in the area to end the “cruel” practices.
“We are tired and angry at the lack of empathy and care from humans who do not care,” Zion’s Animal Rescue Mission said in a statement.
“As a community, we must work together to stop the killing on federal lands.”
Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato has joined them in calling for an end to “inhumane” slaughter.
‘As a mother of a fur baby, I am horrified by reports of animal sacrifices.
“Let’s be clear: this is not about religion, but about denouncing the bad actors who disguise themselves as religion to commit these inhuman acts.”
He added that he has requested more patrols in the areas, as well as better fencing and signage in several languages prohibiting the practice.
Among the recent discoveries was this newborn rat that was sealed inside a plastic bag with a coconut and some chicken bones.
Boxes containing bones of roosters and other birds have also been discovered.
The Supreme Court has upheld the right to religious animal sacrifice, but animal cruelty remains a felony in New York
Several rescuers have linked the sacrifices to a Hindu sect that worships the goddess Kali and has long engaged in the practice in Jamaica Bay, but religious leaders say there are many religions that carry out animal sacrifices.
Rescuers have linked the sacrifices to a Hindu sect that worships the goddess Kali and has long practiced the practice in Jamaica Bay.
“It’s a misinterpretation of what the scriptures say about conquering animal values,” Acharya Arun Gossai, who runs the Bhuvaneshwar Mandir temple in Ozone Park, told the New York Post.
“They have distorted it and sacrificed a real animal instead of sacrificing the animal qualities of man.”
“It’s not a simple situation. There are many other religious denominations that do practice animal sacrifice,” added Aminta Kilawan-Narine, co-founder of the Hindu group Sadhana, which organises the cleaning of the corpses.
