Hundreds of Chickens Found Dead in Abandoned Brooklyn U-Hauls
Animal activists and police are investigating the discovery of hundreds of chickens, many deceased, in two U-Haul trucks in Brooklyn, with activists linking the incident to a pre-Yom Kippur ritual.
Animal rights activists and law enforcement are investigating the discovery of hundreds of chickens, many of them dead, found in two abandoned U-Haul trucks in Brooklyn. Animal welfare advocates suggest the chickens were abandoned during a pre-Yom Kippur ritual known as Kaporos.
The first U-Haul, containing approximately 200 chickens of which only 80 were alive, was found Friday evening on Winthrop Avenue. A second U-Haul with more chickens was discovered about a mile and a half away on St. John's Place.
"This bothers me because it’s so excruciatingly cruel and I cannot believe it’s still being done in this day and age," said Rina Deych, founder of the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos. "These chickens are squashed into crates, 10 to 18 in a crate and stacked 10 to 12 crates high. They’re left there for days and many of them die."
Deych, who is Jewish, explained that Kaporos is a ritual where a chicken is waved over a person's head by the wings, symbolically transferring sins, before being slaughtered. She noted that only a small number of Orthodox Jews participate in this practice.
John Di Leonardo, president of Humane Long Island, criticized the ritual, stating, "People know about Santeria, they know about Voodoo, but they don’t know about this much larger sacrifice happening in their backyard."
Residents living near the parked U-Hauls expressed disgust and sadness. "The smell is so bad that I can’t even open my windows," said Pamela Richards, 62, who lives near the St. John's Place location. "I looked out my window and there was a chicken walking on top of the truck this morning. Some of the chickens are alive and some are dead. I don’t know what to do."
Eddie Rosenberg described the scene as "horrific." He added, "This is not a way to treat any living organism, it’s horrific. I know that this is for a religious ceremony, but this is animal cruelty. The truck was covered by a tarp earlier, they were trying to hide their crimes."
Robert Lapointe, who lives behind where one of the trucks was parked, stated, "I’ve never seen a truck full of dead chickens before. I’ve lived in Brooklyn for 35 years."
The New York Police Department is investigating the incident.