Animal sacrifices are surging in Queens, with chickens, pigs and rats being tortured, mutilated or killed in “twisted” non secular rituals in parkland surrounding Jamaica Bay, The Put up has realized.
In a bit over a month, no less than 9 wounded animals or carcasses have been found within the federally-managed Spring Creek Park in Howard Seashore and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Broad Channel — together with 5 reside pigs with partially severed ears.
Creatures recovered from the revolting scene additionally embody a near-dead child rat tied up in a bag with rooster bones; a freshly-decapitated rooster head; a reside hen in misery; and a useless canine with its neck snapped.
“It’s regularly getting worse. The animal sacrifices are taking place extra repeatedly, extra occasions every week,” Sloane Quealy, co-founder and president of Zion’s Mission Animal Rescue, instructed The Put up.
“The sacrificers understand it’s open season.”
One of many distressed pigs was discovered emaciated in a food-filled crate in July, with a deep gash working down its face and its physique coated in oils and spices, stated Kristen Latuga, who has taken in all 5 of the ailing swine at her Lengthy Island animal sanctuary, Brucie’s Angels.
A number of rescuers and a neighborhood non secular chief urged the torture was linked to a sect of Hindu devotees who worship the goddess Kali and have practiced animal sacrifice within the space surrounding Jamaica Bay for many years.
“It’s a misconstruing of what the scriptures say about conquering the animalistic values,” stated Acharya Arun Gossai, who runs the Bhuvaneshwar Mandir temple in Ozone Park.
“They’ve twisted it and so they’ve sacrificed an precise animal reasonably than sacrificing the animalistic qualities of man.”
Jamaica Bay has been a preferred non secular web site amongst members of the Hindu Guyanese and Indo-Caribbean diaspora residing in close by neighborhoods, together with Richmond Hill and Ozone Park.
Alongside the waterway, which has been nicknamed the “Ganges” by some, after the sacred physique of water in India, individuals usually collect to provide choices, sometimes flowers and fruits, and depart statues of deities in addition to prayer flags.
This week, The Put up noticed Quealy and one other animal rescuer, Kim Fraser, observe down a trio of piglets that had their ears and tails minimize off — roughly 100 toes away from a pair of statuettes of Hindu deities resting atop a mound of turf alongside a trio of flags.
Prayer flags have been noticed close by bundled up within the brush.
Followers of different religions whose rituals contain animal sacrifice, similar to Santeria and voodoo, even have been recognized to make use of seashores and parks surrounding Jamaica Bay to hold out bloody rites.
“It’s not a minimize and dry state of affairs. There are various different religion denominations that do follow animal sacrifice,” stated Aminta Kilawan-Narine, a Howard Seashore resident and co-founder of Hindu group Sadhana, which organizes Jamaica Bay clean-ups the place carcasses have been found.
The US Supreme Court docket upheld the appropriate to animal sacrifice on non secular grounds in a 1993 ruling.
Underneath New York State regulation, nonetheless, aggravated cruelty to animals, in the meantime is a felony punishable by as much as two years in jail.
There have been no 911 requires animal abuse 106th Precinct, which covers Howard Seashore, the NYPD stated.
However John Di Leonardo, founder and government director of the animal rescue and advocacy group Humane Lengthy Island, which additionally providers the 5 boroughs, stated Jamaica Bay has emerged as a “hotspot” for animal cruelty.
He estimated he’d acquired no less than a dozen calls about animal sacrifice within the Jamaica Bay space up to now this yr, in comparison with three or 4 for all of 2023.
“This has been a longstanding problem that was by no means actually tackled,” he stated, including, “There was an enormous outcry within the press round 2008 … but it surely appeared to die down, and now it’s coming again in full drive.”
Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens), whose district covers Howard Seashore and the Rockaways, stated the disturbing follow has reached “a excessive level” this yr and wishes to come back to an finish.
“Cruelty to animals is against the law, and that is one thing we can not tolerate right here,” she stated. “I might be working with my federal companions and native non secular teams to deliver a cease to this instantly.”
A spokesperson for the Nationwide Parks Service didn’t reply to a request for remark.
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