NP: Sacrificers: It's religion, not abuse - Communities in USA struggling with ethics of animal sacrifice

[Guest guest]

*Killing animals to get God to do what you want Her/Him to do - it still

doen not make any sense...*

*Sacrificers: It's religion, not abuse*

 

By STEPHANIE FARR

Philadelphia Daily News

 

farrs 215-854-4225

 

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/top_story/20091214_Sacrificers__It_s_religion__n\

ot_abuse.html

 

ON NOV. 24 in Katmandu, Nepal, more than 200,000 animals were sacrificed as

part of an ancient Hindu ritual celebrated just once every five years.

 

Half a world away and two weeks prior, on Friday the 13th, in Northeast

Philadelphia, five beheaded animals - a cat, three chickens and the skeletal

remains of a dog - were found near an Olney bike path in what Pennsylvania

SPCA officials said was the 11th case of animal sacrifice documented in the

city this year.

 

PSCPA officials said that they often see more animal sacrifices in the city

between November and December because it correlates with " high holidays "

celebrated by various groups.

 

But serious practitioners of religions in the city that call for animal

sacrifices, such as voodoo, Palo and Yoruba (known outside of the tradition

as Santeria), say that they are not responsible for sacrificial remains

found in public parks and cemeteries.

 

" We don't leave animals out, " voodoo priest and Temple University art

professor John Dowell said. " These people who leave stuff in the parks, I

don't know what they're doing. "

 

According to experts, like local anthropologist and folklorist Dr. Eoghan

Ballard, and Dr. Randall Lockwood, senior vice president of anti-cruelty

services for the American SPCA, sacrificial remains found in parks,

especially those adorned with talismans like candles or pennies, are most

often the work of religious novices, teens or satanic dabblers.

 

" The moment you start finding things which are elaborate I rule out many

Afro-diasporic religions, " Ballard said. " If they display it out in some

way, that's usually somebody looking for attention or following a recipe

book. "

 

Ballard said that in Afro-diasporic religions a sacrificed animal becomes

part of the liturgical meal, not a disturbing public display.

 

" It's sort of like the church dinner, " he said. " If it's a legitimate

tradition it follows a practice that's akin to methods used in kosher and

halal. "

 

Dowell, who is a priest, or hungan, at Le Peristyle, a voodoo church in

Philadelphia's Fern Rock section, agreed.

 

" Most people sit down and eat chicken and beef, " he said. " The animal is

already dead and then you thank God. We pray over the animal first. It's

kept, it's cleaned and then it's killed. It's done in a very respectful and

humane way. "

 

Animal sacrifice is a misunderstood practice in major metropolitan cities,

where it's become more prevalent with increased immigrant populations and an

increased interest in Afro-diasporic religions among the Anglo-American

population, Ballard said.

 

" The main problem, more than anything, is that people assume a crime has

taken place when in a different cultural context no one would assume that, "

he said. " We can't assume something sinister is going on when people

practice alternate religions. There's more and more of them here so we need

to deal with it. "

 

He said that serious practitioners of Afro-diasporic religions are usually

discreet about what they do with the remains of the sacrifice once the

animal is consumed. The remains are usually thrown in a trash can, not

displayed in a public park, he said.

 

" If a trash can tips over and a bunch of chicken bones spills out no one

assumes they've sacrificed an animal - they assume they've been to KFC, " he

said.

 

Dowell, who has himself conducted sacrifices, said that Le Peristyle works

with area farms to obtain their animals, and suggested that sacrificing an

animal, which is typically done by slitting the throat, is a more humane

practice then buying meat from a store.

 

" It's done in a very, very respectful way,. " he said. " The goat is numbed

first and then it's killed. The animal is not traumatized at all. When you

buy meat a lot of those animals have been traumatized. "

 

About 96 percent of the sacrifices done at Le Peristyle are in celebration

of festive occasions, and after the sacrifice the animal is eaten, Dowell

said.

 

The other 4 percent, he said, are done if someone is very sick.

 

" Unfortunately, we do have to sacrifice the animal to heal someone, " he

said. " In that case, something has to die for something to live. "

 

The practice itself is not illegal, though Nicole Wilson, PSPCA humane

society police officer, said that a " person's freedom of religion does not

mean they have a free pass on animal cruelty issues. "

 

She said that different laws apply to livestock and domestic animals. As

long as livestock, such as goats and chickens, are stunned - usually by a

blow to the head - before they are killed, then no law is broken.

 

" If they are consistent in the method of killing, that is, they are meeting

the standard for food consumption purposes, then they don't even have to eat

the animals, " she said. Dogs and cats, however, are afforded specific

protections under animal-cruelty legislation.The ASPCA's Lockwood said that

even legitimate cases of sacrifice raise some concerns for animal-welfare

advocates, including how the animal is treated, held and transported before

the sacrifice and the effect that observing a sacrifice might have on

children.

 

" What happens when children are exposed to a high-ranking authority or

person of reverence participating in an act of cruelty? " he asked.

 

The religious novices, teens and satanic dabblers who leave behind horrific

scenes - such as last year, when a beheaded rooster was found hanging from a

tree in Greenmount Cemetery, with a bloody plate and knife nearby - are

rarely caught.

 

If the sacrifices are traced back - which rarely happens - those who

committed them are more likely to be charged with illegal disposal of

carcasses, littering or zoning violations as opposed to animal cruelty,

which is a harder charge to prove, Wilson said.

 

Ballard and Dowell want to dispel the myth that all animal sacrifices are

disturbing and that organized, alternative religions are behind the bizarre

animal-sacrifice displays found throughout the city.

 

" When somebody who is insane does something and they're Baptist, we don't

associate their insanity with being Baptist, " Ballard said. " But if they

claim some other religion we immediately associate it with that.

 

" That really is a cultural double standard. "

 

 

--

Lucia de Vries

Freelance Journalist

Nepal - Netherlands