Tarzana Residents Protest Alleged Animal Sacrifice Rituals

TARZANA (CBSLA.com) — Residents in one San Fernando Valley neighborhood are protesting what they say is an assembly line-style operation of blessing - and killing - chickens.

A handful of protesters reportedly turned out Monday night at a home along the 18700 block of Collins Street in Tarzana over reports that an orthodox Jewish rabbi had been conducting a religious animal sacrifice involving chickens.

SKY9's Stu Mundel flew over the location, where about 15 people - including several children - were spotted walking around. At least three large barrels and several of what appeared to be bloodied trash bags were visible from the air.

A Department of Agriculture official was called in and spoke to the unidentified rabbi, who denied any such activity had taken place.

Some residents, however, claim the rabbi simply cleaned up the operation beforehand because he had been tipped that the inspector was coming.

While animal sacrifices in religious rituals are prohibited under Los Angeles Municipal Code, some members of the orthodox Jewish community perform Kapparot, a traditional pre-Yom Kippur custom in which after a chicken is swung around a person's head, its throat is slit as a symbolic transfer of sins from the participant to the bird.