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In a letter to the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets, local and national animal protection organizations are calling on Commissioner Richard Ball to suspend operations at the 87 live animal markets across the state that sell live animals to the public and slaughter them on the premises. The calls come amid an avian flu outbreak at a Queens live poultry market that led to the temporary closure of 34 similar markets in New York and New Jersey. Approximately 170 birds were killed in the Queens facility where the flu was found.

In the letter, the advocacy groups urge Commissioner Ball to “cease operations” at the markets in order to prevent “the next pandemic” from originating in one of them. COVID, the advocates note, was transmitted from animals to humans in a live market in China and spread throughout China before health authorities were even aware of it. Like the live markets in China, many of those in New York City are located in densely populated neighborhoods, where a virus could rapidly spread before being detected.

Lancaster Farming was the first media outlet to report on the outbreak of avian flu in a New York City live poultry market

While the current strain of avian flu is not easily transmitted from birds to humans or among humans, some cases have resulted in “severe disease that resulted in death,” according to the CDC. Young children and infants are at higher risk. Scientists are concerned that a mutation in the virus could create a pathogen that could sicken and kill humans in far greater numbers. According to infectious disease experts, live poultry markets, which house multiple species of birds, are a breeding ground for mutations.

When COVID-19 reached New York, mainstream media outlets reported on the ongoing efforts of the advocacy group Slaughter Free NYC to shut down the City’s 80+ live animal markets

Professor KF Shortridge, a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong who studied a 2005 avian flu outbreak that originated in Hong Kong, describes live bird markets as an “avian influenza melting pot.” 

Over 80 markets in New York State sell and slaughter live animals. The storefront slaughterhouses are open to the public

In April 2022, parents of New York City public school children sent a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and NYC Mayor Eric Adams asking them to suspend the operation of live animal market due to an avian flu outbreak elsewhere in New York state. In the letter, Brooklyn resident Irma Labiosa expressed particular concern about the close proximity of a live animal market to her son’s elementary school. “The sidewalk in front of the live animal market next to my son’s school is often contaminated with chicken feces and blood,” said Ms. Labiosa, who signed the letter to Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul. “He could be tracking this waste into his classroom, onto the subway and into our home.”

Calls to suspend operations at live animal markets began in 2018 when public health and animal rights activists with the advocacy group Slaughter Free NYC began conducting educational outreach about the health risks in front of markets in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Despite the fact that the outbreak of COVID lent credence to Slaughter Free NYC’s mission, New York designated the state’s live markets as “essential businesses” which could remain open during the statewide lockdown.

NY State Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal and Senator Luis Sepulveda introduced legislation in May 2020 to suspend the operation of live animal markets

Angered by the state’s failure to protect to the public health, NY State Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal and NY State Senator Luis Sepulveda introduced legislation to shutter the markets until a safety assessment could be conducted. “We should have learned after the COVID-19 pandemic struck and claimed millions of lives that live animal markets are breeding grounds for zoonotic diseases,” said Assembly Member Rosenthal. “When chickens, ducks, rabbits and other animals are kept in crowded cages and in unsanitary conditions, the risk of disease spread is great and the impact on public health can be tragic. As avian flu outbreaks proliferate around the world, as well as right here in New York City where dozens of live animal markets operate just steps from apartment buildings, schools and playgrounds, it is irresponsible to do nothing. It is time for swift action by the City and State to protect public health. I also look forward to passage of my bill, which would pause the operation of these live animal markets so the state can conduct a thorough evaluation of the safety of these markets.”

Amid COVID-19 outbreak, public health and animal rights activists are calling on New York City and State officials to shut down the approximately 80 live animal markets in NYC

In an April 2020 interview about COVID on Fox News, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, weighed in on the controversy surrounding live animal markets, stating, “I think they should shut down those things right away. It boggles my mind how, when we have so many diseases that emanate out of that unusual human/animal interface, that we don’t just shut it down. . . . I would like to see the rest of the world really lean with a lot of pressure on those countries that have that because what we’re going through right now is a direct result of that.” Fauci, the public face of the COVID pandemic, made no specific reference to the wet markets in the United States.

From September 7 – 20, 2021, NYC’s animal rights community staged a multi-front effort to help the victims of Kaporos, an annual ritual animal slaughter that takes place in some Orthodox Jewish communities in the days leading up to Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. In Brooklyn alone, an estimated 100,000 chickens are used in the ritual each year. 

The chickens used in the Kaporos slaughter ritual are held in crates for up to several days with little to no food or water. Each year, activists find hundreds of dead chickens mixed in with the living.

The chickens are trucked into the city from factory farms; stored in crates for up to several days with little to no food or water; swung in the air as practitioners say a prayer; and killed in makeshift slaughterhouses erected on public streets without permits. Despite the lack of permits and multiple health code and animal cruelty violations, the NYPD provides many of the chicken vendors with barricades, floodlights and orange traffic cones in which the chickens are bled out onto the street. In some neighborhoods, the NYPD also cordons off public streets.

In Brooklyn, tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews swing chickens around their heads as part of an annual ritual animal slaughter called Kaporos.

For over 10 years, New York City’s animal rights community has engaged in protest, civil disobedience, litigation, lobbying, educational outreach and animal rescue in an effort to eliminate the practice and help the victims. Despite these efforts, Kaporos continues unabated because the practitioners represent a powerful voting bloc that can help make or break elections in New York.

The city subsidizes Kaporos despite the fact that it violates multiple health code violations that put the public at risk of a zoonotic disease outbreak.

Making the Switch from Protests to Chicken Care

From 2010 to 2017, the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos, the organization that has led community efforts, staged protests at the largest Kaporos sites in Brooklyn, but the organization stopped because the practitioners doubled down on the use of chickens. In addition, many taunted activists by handling the chickens more aggressively. In 2018, the Alliance transitioned from protesting to providing the chickens with watermelon and water. The “chicken care” approach provides a bit of relief to the chickens, who would otherwise receive no nourishment, and it demonstrates to the practitioners that the animals are sentient. 

Animal rights activists provide water to some of the chickens who are stacked in crates for up to several days with no nourishment.

Putting the Public at Risk of a Zoonotic Disease Outbreak 

The approximately 30 Kaporos sites in Brooklyn are, in effect, unregulated live animal markets where the customers physically handle the chickens, often without protective gear. This close contact could expose them to pathogens harbored by the chickens. Over the years, many activists who have come into physical contact with the chickens have contracted e. Coli and campylobacter. 

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, actress and model Daisy Fuentes Marx tweeted about the public health risks associated with Kaporos

According to a toxicologist who studied fecal and blood samples taken from the streets, Kaporos “constitutes a dangerous condition” and “poses a significant public health hazard.” If the living and dead chickens, who are crowded together in crates, harbor viruses that commingle and mutate into a strain that can be transmitted to humans, an avian flu could spread throughout the community and into the general public before it’s even detected.

As part of lawsuit filed against NYC on behalf of Brooklyn residents negatively impacted by the health codes violations, attorney Nora Constance Marino hired a toxicologist to investigate the health risks associated with Kaporos and produce a report. Dr. Dave Chokshi and the NYC Health Commissioners who preceded him have refused to address the toxicology report.

Animal Rescue

During the 2021 Kaporos events, activists in New York City rescued 708 chickens, the most ever. At a triage center in Brooklyn, a rescue crew led by the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos and Tamerlaine Sanctuary (a refuge for farm animals in NJ) provided the chickens with wound care, antibiotics and nourishment before loading them into vans that transported them to sanctuaries around the country.

In the days leading up to Yom Kippur, activists with the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos rescued 708 chickens and transported them to farm animal sanctuaries around the country.

The rescuers also brought over 20 chickens to veterinarians for surgical procedures that totaled over $15,000. According to Jill Carnegie, a rescuer with the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos, the mortality rate of the rescued chickens who were brought to the triage center was the lowest ever.

The Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos (a project run by United Poultry Concerns) rescued 708 chickens from slaughter during the 2021 Kaporos events in Brooklyn

A New Documentary Film 

In September, Cavelight Films, a New York-based production company, released a highly-anticipated documentary film about Kaporos, The 12-minute film, Voting Bloc: Slaughter in the Streets of Brooklyn, takes viewers deep inside the insular Orthodox Jewish communities where Kaporos takes place and follows several animal rights activists who document the ritual and rescue animals. 

The Campaign to End the Use of Chickens as Kaporos

In September 2017, animal rights activists in New York began calling on the New York City Department of Health to enforce the health laws violated during Kaporos, including the slaughter of animals in residential neighborhoods and the contamination of public streets with blood, feces and body parts. They were hopeful that the Health Commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett, would shut down the mass ritual slaughter not only because of the well documented health risks and violations, but also because she presented herself as a social justice advocate who had regrets about not speaking out against other injustices when she had the platform to do so. When Dr. Bassett dismissed the activists’ concerns, they began protesting  at her public speaking engagements. At several events, including a global public health conference at the New York Hilton, the disruptions forced Dr. Bassett to forfeit her presentation.

In August 2018, after being subjected to 10 months of unrelenting protests, Dr. Bassett resigned as Health Commissioner with three years left in her term and moved to Boston to take a job at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her departure was not the outcome that the activists sought, but it did demonstrate the power of protest, civil disobedience and pressure campaigns. Neither she nor the media acknowledged the role that the protests played in her decision to resign.

In 2018, animal advocacy groups in NYC held a press conference at the Department of Health calling on Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett to enforce the city’s health codes that are violated during Kaporos, an annual ritual animal slaughter in which an estimated 100,000 chickens are killed in the streets of Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods.

While Dr. Bassett never did acknowledge her refusal to enforce her own health codes, she did publicly admit that she was constrained by politics. In anticipation of a protest during a presentation at the Boston University School of Public Health, she stated, “Those of us who work in government face the reality of the fact that the people who appoint us have to go back to the public and back to the ballot box to be reappointed, so there’s always going to be a need for advocacy from people outside of government. For someone who is passionately committed to many issues embraced by advocates, it can be difficult to acknowledge the role that I play as a political appointee. I can’t always be at the barricades.”

Multiple health codes are violated during Kaporos, a ritual animal sacrifice, but NYC Health Commissioners  turns a blind eye because the practitioners represent a powerful voting bloc.

While most of the audience members did not know what Dr. Bassett was talking about, the animal rights activists who were present or watching the livestream did. In New York, many elected officials go to great lengths to support of the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jewish communities because they represents a powerful voting bloc. Dr. Bassett’s boss, Mayor Bill de Blasio, undoubtedly forbade her from shutting down Kaporos, despite the fact that it violates so many laws, because it could have cost him future endorsements from that community. To appease her boss, Dr. Bassett prioritized politics ahead of public health.  

In September 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul hired Dr. Bassett to serve as the state’s Health Commissioner, a position that once again gives her the authority to enforce health codes and take measures to protect the public health.

Animal rights activists plaster NYC with posters highlighting the risk of zoonotic disease transmission during Kaporos in 2020

When Dr. Bassett resigned in 2018, the activist community turned its attention to the Deputy Commissioner of Disease Control, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis. He seemed like an appropriate target, given the e. Coli and campylobacter infections and the toxicology report which outlined the public health risks. After he ignored letters requesting a meeting and refused to talk to advocates in the lobby of the Department of Health, activists staged two protests at a spin (cycling) studio he co-owned with his husband. After the second protest, he falsely accused protest organizer Donny Moss of assault and had him arrested. Instead of engaging in a discussion with the activists or simply enforcing the health codes, Dr. Daskalakis used his power as a high-ranking city official to silence and intimidate activists in order to prevent future protests at his spin studio.

Discomfort about Kaporos Among the Practitioners 

After Yom Kippur, TheirTurn posted a Kaporos video in an Orthodox (Lubavitch) Facebook group with almost 8,000 members. The video, taken in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, shows bloody chickens flailing around in great distress after workers at a makeshift slaughterhouse sliced their throats and tossed them into the street. While several Lubavitchers argued that the chickens were dead despite their movements, the majority of people expressed anger about the cruelty and the reckless disregard for “God’s creatures.” Some also expressed concern about the chickens being discarded, as they are told from a young age that the chickens are donated to the poor. 

Video footage of chickens being tossed into the street while still alive after their throats were sliced generated angry responses from Lubavitcher Jews who are told that the chickens are donated to the poor.

During the 2021 Kaporos, the NYPD took the unprecedented step of shutting down two of the Kaporos sites after dozens of activists filed sanitation, animal cruelty and underage worker complaints with the city. While this enforcement act did nothing to help the chickens, who were transferred to other Kaporos sites, it did offer the activist community a glimmer of hope. Still, after years of protest and other forms of advocacy, many NYC activists have concluded that the mass ritual slaughter will continue until a deadly zoonotic disease outbreak forces city or state officials to shut it down. Until then, the animal rights community will continue to engage in chicken care and rescue to reduce the suffering and save lives.

Shimon Shuchat, a 22-year-old animal rights activist from Brooklyn, died on Tuesday, July 28th. In spite of being so young, Shimon was one of the most wise, humble, ethical, empathetic and hard-working activists in New York City. He was also extraordinarily smart. No tribute, including this one, could do justice to Shimon.

Animal rights activist Shimon Shuchat

Shimon’s story is different than most. He was raised in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish home in Brooklyn. According to his Uncle Golan, he learned how to read when he was two years old, and he showed unusual signs of empathy when he was a little boy. For instance, he somehow figured out that a leather jacket was made from a cow, and he asked his parents why people would wear that. When he was a teenager, he came across animal cruelty videos that shook him to the core. He became an atheist, and he made the decision to chart his own course in life.

Leaving the insular ultra-Orthodox Jewish community is not easy for anyone, especially a teenager, but Shimon found the courage to transfer from his yeshiva, which was familiar, to secular high school, where he didn’t know anyone. He also immersed himself in the NYC animal rights community, participating in multiple events every week. Ironically, among the first acts of cruelty that he protested was Kaporos, a ritual animal sacrifice performed by the very community in which he was raised.

Shimon Shuchat bears witness to chickens languishing in transport crates

Throughout his childhood, Shimon had a close relationship with his father, Velvel. According to Shimon’s relatives, “Velvel validated and loved Shimon, and always supported him. He would frequently take him on trips, despite tight finances, often using Greyhound buses to bring him to different states to visit animals. Velvel advocated for Shimon when his yeshiva was unprepared to answer Shimon’s difficult questions. His father always lovingly took the time to listen and support Shimon in any way he could.” His extended family said that Shimon “is a shining light and a blessing to this world, and may his memory also be for a blessing.”

In 2015, Shimon was accepted to Cornell, and he brought NYC-style activism to a reserved animal rights club on campus. After college, he returned to NYC and worked in the animal rights movement until he passed away. He talked about going to law school one day.

Animal rights activists Shimon Shuchat and Rina Deych

Shimon was a quiet, shy, and anxious person, but, according to his fellow activists, he stepped far outside of his comfort zone in order to advocate for the animals. Rina Deych, an activist in NYC who mentored Shimon when he joined the movement, fondly recalls a Kaporos protest during which she offered Shimon a bullhorn to lead the chants. “He shyly refused,” Rina said, “But when he didn’t like the accent I used to pronounce a Hebrew phrase, he grabbed the megaphone from me and led the chants for the duration of the protest. His willingness to prioritize the animals over his anxiety demonstrated just how committed and compassionate he was.”

Shimon Shuchat advocating for captive animals and showing his support for LGBTQ equality

His colleague Nadia Schilling, who also served as a mentor to Shimon, said, “Shimon’s work for animals was unmatched by any person I’ve ever worked within the animal rights movement. It’s easy to lose hope and feel defeated in this line of work, but I honestly believed that, with Shimon by my side, we could make this world a better place.”

Shimon Shuchat participates in an Direct Action Everywhere disruption at Whole Foods, protesting the Company’s “humane meat” advertising.

Unaware of Shimon’s anxiety, Nadia asked him to testify in front of the NYC Council in support of legislation to ban the sale of ban foie gras. “He intentionally waited until after he delivered his remarks to confess that public speaking exasperated his anxiety. He knew I wouldn’t have asked if I had been aware of his fear, and he didn’t want to let down me or the animals. That’s how selfless he was.”

Shimon set the bar high for his activist colleagues with his impeccable work ethic and selflessness. He was singularly focused on reducing animal suffering, and he had no interest in the material world or even the basic comforts that most of us take for granted. One summer during college, Shimon asked if he could do an internship with TheirTurn. “I was reluctant because he was so serious and had such high standards, but I wanted to support him,” said Donny Moss. “He worked so efficiently that he completed his assignments more quickly than I could create them. If I didn’t force him to take a break for lunch by putting the food on top of his keyboard, then he would not have eaten.”

Shimon Shuchat phone banking for Voters for Animal Rights (VFAR) in support of the NYC bill to ban the use of wild animals in circuses

Shimon’s asceticism was stunning at times. “One day, while running an errand, Shimon and I walked into Insomnia Cookie, which had just added a vegan cookie to its menu. When I offered to buy him one, Shimon asked me to donate the amount of money I would have spent on the cookie to PETA. Even after explaining that I could buy him a cookie AND make a contribution to PETA, I practically had to use force to get him to eat the cookie, which I knew that he secretly wanted.”

Shimon Shuchat advocating for the use of coins instead of live chickens during a religious ritual called Kaporos

Shimon was painfully humble for someone who contributed so much. “People like Shimon, who work so hard behind the scenes with no public recognition, are the pillars of our movement,” said Nadia.

Perhaps more than anything, Shimon was empathetic. His uncle Golan said that he “felt things extraordinarily deeply” from a young age. One year during a Kaporos protest, Donny witnessed this firsthand when he found Shimon off to the side weeping. “In the face of so much cruelty and suffering, Shimon practically collapsed from a broken heart.”

While delivering his testimony at the foie gras hearing at City Hall, Shimon made a plea that should, perhaps, be his parting message to those he left behind. “Regardless of our ethnicity, race, religion, or political affiliation, we should be unanimous in opposing and condemning cruelty directed at animals, who are among our society’s most vulnerable members.”

Shimon Shuchat participates in an animal rights protest in NYC

Shimon’s father Velvel, Uncle Golan, Aunt Leah, Cousin Debbie, Rina, Nadia, Donny and others who cared about Shimon hope that Shimon, who made a lifetime of contributions in his short, 22 years, is resting in peace in a kinder place.  “Shimon was a shining light and blessing to this world,” according to his family, “May his memory also be for a blessing.”

Shimon Shuchat (bottom right) volunteers at Safe Haven, a sanctuary for rescued farm animals

In August, several animal rights organizations, including PETA, organized and participated in tributes to Shimon. On August 30th, Brooklyn-Queens Animal Save staged a vigil in his memory at a slaughterhouse in Astoria, Queens.

Brooklyn-Queens Animal Save vigil in memory of animal rights activist Shimon Shuchat

During the 2019 Kaporos, an annual ritual slaughter that takes place in the days leading up to Yom Kippur, several teams of animal rights activists in New York City rescued 211 chickens who were hours away from being killed in makeshift slaughterhouses erected in Hasidic Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn.  The rescues were organized by the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos and Long Island Orchestrating for Nature (LION).

The activists brought the chickens to a triage center where they provided them with food, water and, in some cases, acute medical care, before transporting them to farm animal sanctuaries around the country. Eight chickens were taken to veterinarians for emergency surgery due to broken wings and other life-threatening injuries.

Jill Carnegie with the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos transports a rescue to the triage site.

Jill Carnegie, the Campaign Strategist for the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos and an organizer of the rescues, said that the number of chickens who activists rescued was determined by the space available in farm animal sanctuaries: “We spent several months securing quality homes for the chickens. Since Cornish Cross birds are some of the most genetically-altered animals, they require specialized care. Each year, we can only rescue the number of chickens we can confirm homes for to avoid a potentially catastrophic scenario; we put in many hours of placement work so that we can save as many lives as possible. We wish we could have saved more.”

Activists estimate that over 100,000 chickens are trucked into the city and stored in crates on the street for up to several days with no food or water

With an estimated 300,000 Hasidic Jews in New York City, activists believe that well over 100,000 chickens are used and killed each year. During Kaporos in 2019, thousands of chickens died of hunger, thirst, sickness and heat exhaustion in the crates where they were being stored before the ritual even began.

During Kaporos, hundreds of activists provide watermelon and water to thousands of chickens stacked in crates on the streets of Crown Heights, Williamsburg and Borough Park in Brooklyn, New York

During Kaporos, practitioners swing six-week old chickens around their heads while reciting a prayer to symbolically transfer their sins to the animal.  The vast majority of the chickens are then killed in open-air slaughterhouses, leaving the streets contaminated with their blood, body parts, feces and feathers.  In 2015, an attorney suing the City on behalf of area residents hired a toxicologist to test the contaminants. In his report, Dr. Michael McCabe concluded that Kaporos “constitutes a dangerous condition and poses a significant public health hazard.”

Mayor de Blasio’s Health Commissioners have refused to address a toxicology report that outlines the risk posed by the mass slaughter of over 100,000 animals on public streets during Kaporos.

Advocates have, on multiple occasions, sent the toxicology report to Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the head of Infectious Disease Control at the NYC Department of Health, and to Drs. Oxiris Barbot and Mary Bassett, the City’s current and former health commissioners.  Activists speculate that they have refused to acknowledge the correspondence because they could be liable if and when a disease outbreak does occur. Nora Constance Marino Esq., the attorney, argued the case to the State’s highest court — Court of Appeals. In their ruling in 2018, the six judges wrote that city agencies have discretion with respect to the laws they choose to enforce.

During Kaporos, over 100,000 chickens are slaughtered on public streets in residential neighborhoods in Brooklyn, exposing area residents to E. coli, campylobacter and many other pathogens and toxins

In recent years, resistance to the use of live chickens has been building in the Hasidic Jewish communities. In discussions with animal protection advocates, many Kaporos practitioners have acknowledged that the mass commercialization of the ritual has led to systemic abuses that violate “Tza’ar ba’alei chayim,” a Jewish commandment that bans causing animals unnecessary suffering.

“As long as this cruel ritual slaughter takes place, we will continue rescuing as many of the victims as we can before they are slaughtered,” said Jill Carnegie. “One day, the use of live animals for the ritual will come to an end, either because the Department of Health decides to enforce its own laws in order to prevent the spread of an infectious disease or, more likely, because a disease outbreak occurs.”

Before Yom Kippur in 2018, an Orthodox Jewish man in Brooklyn recorded himself criticizing a ritual animal sacrifice called Kaporos while standing in front of hundreds of chickens who had been abandoned for the night with no food or water. While many Orthodox Jews are willing to speak off the record about their growing discomfort with Kaporos, few speak out publicly out of fear of retribution.

During Kaporos, practitioners swing six-week old chickens around their heads while reciting a prayer to symbolically transfer their sins to the animal before the Jewish Day of Atonement.  They then bring the chickens to ritual slaughterers who slice their throats in makeshift slaughterhouses erected for the holiday.

While reciting a prayer, a Kaporos practitioner swings a chicken around his son’s head in a symbolic transfer of his son’s sins to the chicken. The chicken is then killed in a makeshift slaughterhouse erected before Yom Kippur. (photos: Unparalleled Suffering Photography)

During a previous Kaporos, an Orthodox man in Brooklyn told TheirTurn that he felt that the ritual could not be conducted humanely on a mass scale in urban areas.  “It used to be, once upon a time, you lived in a little shtetl [small Jewish village in Eastern Europe]. You used to go before Yom Kippur. You used to take your chicken out of your backyard. You used to take it and do it, but not to bring as a mass slaughtering on the streets. And that’s why I think it’s not right.”

In recent years,  resistance to the use of live chickens has been building in Orthodox communities. In discussions with animal protection advocates, many Kaporos practitioners have acknowledged that the animals are mistreated in the days leading up to the ritual due to their intensive confinement in crates. While some say that the problems can be fixed, others in the community argue that the industrialization of the ritual has led to systemic abuses that violate “Tza’ar ba’alei chayim,” a Jewish commandment that bans causing animals unnecessary suffering. In 2017 and 2018, thousands of crated chickens died of hunger, thirst, sickness and heat exhaustion before the ritual even began.

Before Yom Kippur, tens of thousands of chickens are trucked into Brooklyn, and the chickens are held in crates for up to several days with no food, water or protection from weather extremes.

A least a dozen Orthodox Jews have told TheirTurn that online videos about the cruelty have compelled them and/or family members to stop using chickens. Others say that, because the ritual takes place just once a year, they begrudgingly continue to use chickens in order to avoid family or community strife.

Advocates say that holding chickens by their wings instead of their bodies causes them more pain as they’re pulled from the crates, transferred to the Kaporos practitioner and swung in the air.

In New York City, animal rights activists have been protesting the ritual for decades, but they have seen few tangible results. “In candid discussions with Orthodox Jews, we have learned that the community doubles down on something when outsiders ask them to stop,” said Jessica Hollander, an activist who has been protesting the ritual since 2014. “We were trying to help the chickens, but, in the end, we were doing more harm than good.”  In 2018, the activist community stopped protesting and instead focused on providing food and water to the beleaguered chickens.

Advocates provide water to chickens in crates who are intensively confined for up to several days with no food, water or protection from the extreme heat.

To the surprise of animal rights activists in the United States, Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture released an animated public service announcement encouraging Kaporos practitioners to use coins instead of live animals. In New York City, the government not only refuses to speak out against the use of chickens, but also provides City resources for ritual, in spite of the 15 city and state public health and animal cruelty laws that are violated.