Neighbors Lash Out as New Yorkers Protest at Home of Health Commissioner Mary Bassett Over Mass Animal Sacrifice
The News
After months of being stonewalled by NYC Health Commissioner Mary Bassett, New Yorkers advocating for a ban on a ritual animal sacrifice that violates seven public health codes have taken their plea to her front doorstep. While many of Commissioner Bassett’s neighbors have expressed their support for the protests, others are lashing out:
“We’re surprised by the rage expressed of some of Commissioner Bassett’s neighbors because we are protesting for just 1.5 hours every few weeks without any sound amplification,” said Linda Mann, an activist who participated in the protest.
NYC Health Commissioner Mary Bassett watches from her window as New Yorkers protest her ongoing refusal to enforce the health codes violated during a mass animal sacrifice called Kaporos
During the animal sacrifice, which is called Kaporos, ultra-Orthodox Jews swing live chickens around their heads while saying a prayer to transfer their sins to the chicken. After the ritual, the chickens’ throats are sliced in one of the approximately 30 pop-up slaughterhouses erected for the ritual on public streets.
“The chickens, who are just six weeks old, are held in crates for several days with no food or water,” said Rina Deych, a Brooklyn resident who lives in a neighborhood where chickens are killed and bled out into the streets. “In 2017, thousands of these babies slowly died from starvation, thirst and heat exhaustion before they were even used in the ritual, and their bodies were stuffed into garbage bags and dumped onto the sidewalk.”
In 2015, The Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos and 19 NYC residents sued the Department of Health and the NYPD for failing to enforce the 15 public health, sanitation and anti-cruelty laws and regulations that are violated during Kaporos. The plaintiffs are asking the judges to mandate that the city agencies enforce the laws. The case is pending at the Court of Appeals, which is the highest court in the state of New York.
Public health and animal rights activists protest at the home of NYC Health Commissioner Mary Bassett who defends a mass animal sacrifice that violates multiple public health codes.
In response to the activists pleas, Commissioner Bassett issued a two sentence statement defending the practice. The statement makes no reference to health code violations or the toxicology report submitted to the court that states that Kaporos jeopardizes public health by exposing New Yorkers to e-coli, salmonella and many other toxins and pathogens.
In a letter to advocates, NYC Health Commissioner Mary Bassett dismisses the toxicology report that states that killing 60,000 animals on public sidewalks poses a public health risk to New Yorkers.
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Are your clothes made of cotton wool or from plants? These are all life forms. You make signs out of trees! You should be banned from that. Pathetic protesters with no reason to wake up in the morning except harass people. Go to KFC and all the fast food restaurants. Look at what they do to animals.
Hi I’m jay I have terrible news theirs a YouTube channel called (majestic aquariums TV) they are dedicated to killing hybrid cichlid fish. I like hybrid cichlids a lot I’m breeding a male red terror cichlid with a female red tiger motaguense cichlid to make a cichlid I call the (RED PHOENIX KING CICHLID). which will grow up to a large 24 or 32 inches. The man on killing hybrids his last name is Talbot he lives in Sidney Australia i cant stand him his YouTube title is (crossbreed into crap fish).someone should go to his channel and protest.
Very impressive! You guys are so committed. I hope this causes change.
Thank you Donny Moss and all the beautiful protesters doing the right thing to protect chickens from torture in NYC. Mary Bassett do your job!
Bravo to those who have the courage to stand up, protest and speak out against all forms of tyranny and terror inflicted on the innocent, who, in this case, are voiceless animals being slaughtered on our streets!
Those who lash out against these protests, are the ignorant and uncaring, who choose to turn a blind eye and deaf ear, so that they are not personally inconvenienced or disturbed! I suspect these are the same people who sit quietly by allowing every other kind of atrocity that we see taking place with an out-of-control government that is dismantling piece by piece, every law, every regulation that Americans have worked to put in place to protect workers, the environment, women, minorities and our very right to vote and speak our minds.
Shame on every one of these ignoramuses – big, loud-mouth, self-serving and indifferent to any suffering but their own.
It is infuriating that people are permitted to torture animals !
What about our rights those that find it intolerable, deeply depressing and having a negative impact on our emotional well being, what about US?
Our feelings of deep anger at what happens to these poor animals is just brushed to one side as if we don’t matter. I am sick of the way we are looked upon for trying to help the helpless, for having compassion, we are treated as though we are stupid for feeling this way. There is a complete failure of the relevant authorities to assess the emotional damage caused to so many people letting dreadful events like this happen right on their doorstep.