Anne777

Did you hear about this? An ALL-MUSLIM city council in Michigan voted to allow residents to SACRIFICE ANIMALS AT HOME for "religious purposes", despite objections from neighbors concerned about sanitation and children witnessing the killings. WHERE ARE THE ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS NOW? In a controversial decision, Hamtramck's City Council approved an ordinance allowing religious animal sacrifice on residential property, with then-Mayor Amer Ghalib casting the deciding vote in a 4-2 decision. The ordinance exempts religious animal sacrifice from certain local animal regulations and permits methods including severing both carotid arteries with a sharp instrument, causing the animal to lose consciousness through blood loss. It also allows methods that render animals unconscious before the sacrifice. Residents packed City Hall for nearly three hours of public comment, with opponents raising concerns about sanitation, animal remains, and the prospect of animals being sacrificed in densely populated residential neighborhoods. "Our city is dirty enough. We don't want to make it more dirty," one resident told the council. Hamtramck, a city of approximately 28,000 people outside Detroit, became nationally known as America's first Muslim-majority city. Its population is estimated to be roughly 70% Muslim, with large Yemeni and Bangladeshi communities. Animal sacrifice is associated with Eid al-Adha, an Islamic holiday during which Muslims traditionally sacrifice sheep, goats, or other livestock and distribute portions of the meat to relatives and people in need. City Attorney Odey Meroueh advised council members that religious animal sacrifice was already protected under state and federal law, citing a 1993 U.S. Supreme Court ruling protecting Santeria religious practices. Earlier versions of the ordinance included requirements for advance notification, fees, and inspections. Those provisions were REMOVED from the final version after the city attorney warned that additional restrictions could expose the city to lawsuits. Mayor Ghalib defended the decision, calling it a compromise between religious freedom and regulation. "We don't want to restrict religious freedoms and we don't want to keep it random without regulations," he said. Councilman Mohammed Hassan stated, "If somebody wants to do it, they have a right to do their practice." The city said it would monitor the practice and consider future changes if problems arose. PROBLEMS?!? I think we can be pretty sure there are multiple problems with this. #Michigan #Hamtramck