Animal Sacrifices Surge in NYC: Mutilated Pigs, Chickens and Other Creatures Found in Grisly Sacrifices Across Queens

Animal sacrifices are on the rise in the New York City borough of Queens, with disturbing reports of chickens, pigs and rats being tortured and killed in religious rituals around Jamaica Bay.

In just over a month, authorities have discovered at least nine injured animals or carcasses in federally managed areas like Spring Creek Park in Howard Beach and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Broad Channel, the New York Post reported.

This includes five live pigs with partially severed ears and other grisly finds such as a nearly-dead baby rat tied up with chicken bones, a freshly decapitated chicken head, a distressed live hen and a dead dog with a broken neck.

Sloane Quealy, co-founder and president of Zion’s Mission Animal Rescue, expressed concern, noting the situation is "continually getting worse."

"The animal sacrifices are happening more repeatedly, more times a week," she said, adding, "The sacrificers know it’s open season.”

One of the pigs discovered in July was located in a food-filled crate, emaciated and with a deep gash on its face, covered in oils and spices. Kristen Latuga, who runs Brucie’s Angels animal sanctuary on Long Island, has taken in all five suffering pigs.

Some rescuers and local religious leaders suggest that these acts of cruelty may be linked to a sect of Hindu. Followers reportedly worship the goddess Kali and have practiced animal sacrifice around Jamaica Bay for decades.

Acharya Arun Gossai of the Bhuvaneshwar Mandir temple in Ozone Park criticized the approach, explaining, “It’s a misconstruing of what the scriptures say about conquering the animalistic values. They’ve twisted it and they’ve sacrificed an actual animal rather than sacrificing the animalistic qualities of man.”

Jamaica Bay, also referred to as the “Ganges” by some locals, has long been a site for religious offerings by the Hindu Guyanese and Indo-Caribbean communities living in nearby areas. The bay is a place where people commonly leave offerings such as flowers, fruits and statues of deities.

Recently, Quealy and fellow rescuer Kim Fraser tracked down piglets with their ears and tails cut off, just 100 feet from a pair of Hindu deity statues and prayer flags. Other religious groups, including Santeria and voodoo practitioners, have also been known to use the Jamaica Bay area for similar rites.

Aminta Kilawan-Narine, a Howard Beach resident and co-founder of the Hindu group Sadhana, noted that various faiths practice animal sacrifice. Kilawan-Narine's group organizes clean-ups at Jamaica Bay where carcasses have been found.

While the US Supreme Court upheld the right to animal sacrifice on religious grounds in 1993, New York State law considers aggravated animal cruelty a felony punishable by up to two years in prison. Despite this, the NYPD's 106th Precinct, which covers Howard Beach, has not received any 911 calls reporting animal abuse.

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John Di Leonardo, founder of Humane Long Island, noted that Jamaica Bay has become a "hotspot" for animal cruelty, receiving at least a dozen reports of animal sacrifice this year, compared to just a few last year. "This has been a longstanding issue that was never really tackled. There was a big outcry in the press around 2008 … but it seemed to die down, and now it’s coming back in full force.”

Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) called the situation "at a high point" this year and vowed to take action. “Cruelty to animals is a crime, and this is something we cannot tolerate here,” she said. “I will be working with my federal partners and local religious groups to bring a stop to this immediately.”