Disturbing rise in religious animal sacrifices in NYC

Animal sacrifices are on the rise in New York City with pigs, rats and birds discovered tortured to death as part of religious rituals.

The carcasses of several animals have been found in the areas around Jamaica Bay and Howard Beach, which has now been nicknamed 'sacrifice shores'.

At least nine injured or dead creatures have been discovered in the last month, including five live pigs with partially severed ears, The New York Post reports.

Local shelter Zion's Animal Rescue Mission attributed recent sacrifices to a 'rogue Hindu sect and black magic Santeria'.

The group shared distressing images showing a dog with a broken neck, a rooster with a severed head and a rat sealed inside a bag with chicken bones as among their grisly discoveries.

The waterway has long been used by religious groups for prayer and offerings due to the large Hindu Guyanese and Indo-Carribbean population in the area.

Typically the offerings have taken the form of flowers and fruit, but activists say animal sacrifices have been common for 'decades'. 

The right to animal sacrifice for religion reasons was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1993.

However, animal cruelty is still a felony in New York, punishable by up to two years in prison. 

Rescuers Sloane Quealy and Kim Fraser told how they recently came to the aid of three pigs who were discovered in crates at Howard Beach near to some bundled up prayer flags.

'We found a burned out barrel with a rooster carcass pieces and feathers all around,' Quealy explained.

'We had also seen a man leaving that night with just a shovel. They dig deep holes to contain the birds.

'Animals both dead and alive have been recovered by rescuers for years.'

 Now Quealy, Fraser and other animal rights activists are now campaigning for more oversight in the area to clamp down on the 'cruel' practices.

'We are tired and angry by the lack of empathy and care by humans who don't care,' a statement from Zion's Animal Rescue Mission said. 

'As a community, we  must work together to stop sacrifices on federal land.'

Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato has joined them in calling for an end to the 'inhumane' sacrifices.

'As a mother to a fur-baby, I am appalled by the reports of animal sacrifices.

'Let's be clear, this is not about religion, but to call out bad actors who are cloaking themselves in religion to commit these inhumane acts.'

She added that she has requested more patrols in the areas as well as better fencing and signage in multiple languages forbidding the practice. 

Several rescuers have linked the sacrifices to a Hindu sect who worship the goddess Kali and have long been engaging in the practice in Jamaica Bay.

'It's a misconstruing of what the scriptures say about conquering the animalistic values,' Acharya Arun Gossai, who runs the Bhuvaneshwar Mandir temple in Ozone Park, told the New York Post.

'They've twisted it and they've sacrificed an actual animal rather than sacrificing the animalistic qualities of man.'

'It's not a cut and dry situation. There are many other faith denominations that do practice animal sacrifice,' added Aminta Kilawan-Narine, co-founder of Hindu group Sadhana which organizes cleanups of the carcasses.