Kaparot: Absolving Sins Through Animal Torture & Abuse

Background: 1692



Many Jews believe that a chicken can bear the sins of a Jew, and then be killed to serve as the atonement for those sins. It is done in a ritual called Kaparot that is hundreds of years old. The ritual is done in assemblies, during the ten days of Rosh Hashanah leading up to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This year Yom Kippur will begin at sundown on October 8th.


How it works:

In the ninth century Jew scholars decided that since the Hebrew word gever meant both “rooster” and “man,” it followed that a chicken sacrifice could serve as the atonement for a Jew’s sins.

A white chicken is preferred. A rooster for a man, and a hen for a woman. First a selected Old Testament verse is read aloud, generally from Psalms 107:17-20 or Job 33:23-24. The chicken is then held by the legs, or by pinning the wings back and gripping it under the shoulder blades. The Jew then swings the chicken in a circle above their head three times, while reciting this chant: “This is my exchange, my substitute, my atonement; this rooster (or hen) shall go to its death, but I shall go to a good, long life, and to peace.” That’s it, and the ritual atones for an entire years worth of sins! The chicken is then handed to a Jew butcher who cuts its throat and vocal cords, for kosher reasons and so that the chicken can not squawk in pain. At this point the chicken is sometimes shoved into an inverted traffic cone to drain it of its blood. Finally it is thrown into a trash bag with other sacrificed chickens. The chicken’s death from loss of blood releases the sins, and the Jew is then cleansed of their sins.

Animal rights activist and others, including some Jews, think that the ritual is cruel to chickens. It is legally practiced in America under the right to freedom of religion.

More info and some videos;
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Kaparot%2BOR%2BKapparot%2BOR%2BKaparrot%2BOR%2BKapparot%2BOR%2BKaparos%2BOR%2BKapparos%2BOR%2BKaparros%2BOR%2BCaparot%2BOR%2BCapparot%2BOR%2BCaparrot%2BOR%2BCaparos%2BOR%2B&search_type=&aq=-1&oq=

UNDIAGNOSED DIE-OFF, SEAL - CANADA (02): (NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR)

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A ProMED-mail post

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International Society for Infectious Diseases


Date: 19 Jan 2010
From: Lena Measures



Regarding "Undiagnosed die-off, seal - Canada: (NL) 20110118.0207,"
here is some information to date.

There are dead, apparently premature, harp seal pups and adults
(_Phoca groenlandica_) on shore over a wide geographic area including
the St. Lawrence Estuary but mostly off northern Newfoundland and
Labrador. Confirmed numbers dead are in the low hundreds so far and
involve mostly adult animals. Reports of early pupping began around
Christmas. Strong storm surges in early January 2011 have brought
some carcasses ashore.

Harp seals migrate down from the arctic in late fall to eventually
give birth and breed on the Front (off eastern Newfoundland and
Labrador) and Gulf of St. Lawrence in late winter. The normal period
for harp seal parturition is end of February, early March. It is
natural for some harp seal pups to be born premature even in January.
The harp seal population is estimated at 8 to 9 million animals with
natural mortality estimated at 4 percent.

Mortality of pups in their 1st year of life is estimated at 20 - 30
percent, declining with age. Pups are nursed for about 12 days then
abandoned, after which they fast and moult on the ice as it ice
drifts into the North Atlantic in early spring (April/May). As the
ice melts pups swim and begin to hunt on their own, eventually moving
northwards. After abandoning their pups females mate and adults rest
on the ice to moult and eventually migrate north. Harp seals spend
about 6 months in arctic waters and 6 months off southeastern
Canadian Atlantic waters.

Observed mortalities may be unusual but expected due to poor to
absent ice conditions and the size of the herd. We are examining
carcasses and differentials include environmental change, poaching
and an epizootic. Adults appear in good body condition. Phocine
distemper virus or PDV (morbillivirus) is enzootic in this population
and while epizootics have killed thousands of seals in Europe,
epizootics have not been observed in Canadian waters perhaps due to
herd immunity (83 percent of examined harp seals are seropositive to
PDV). Necropsies and further investigations are in progress in
collaboration with fisheries agents and veterinary pathologists at
provincial and university laboratories including the Canadian
Co-operative Wildlife Health Center.

Ice conditions can be monitored at the Canadian Ice Service website:
http://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/WIS57CT/20110117180000_WIS57CT_0005506610.pdf>

--
Communicated by:
Dr. Lena Measures
Marine mammal health
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Maurice Lamontagne Institute
850 route de la mer, Mont-Joli, Qc, Canada G5H 3Z4



[We appreciate Dr. Measures taking time to inform us and look forward
to a follow up report regarding this condition in the seals. - Mod.TG]

[see also:
Undiagnosed die-off, seal - Canada: (NL) 20110118.0207]
.....................tg/ejp/dk

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Miami-Dade "Shelter" Heart-Sticks w/Out Sedation

From: Pamela Banduric 60sgal@live.com
Date: Fri, Jan 14, 2011 at 11:31 PM
SOS!! - HUGE MIAMI DADE VIOLATION - PRESS RELEASE- WITNESS STATEMENT ATTACHED

WHETHER one lives in FL or not, if you are an animal advocate this needs to be read (including the sworn witness statement) in its entirety and then passed on to every animal advocate one knows.
*NOTE That the perpetrator still works for Miami Dade and the person who tried to stop it and is the whistle blower was fired (dismissed) on Tuesday.



From: advocategroups@gmail.com (at gmail.com)
Sent: 1/11/2011 6:14:21 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
MDAS VIOLATION - PRESS RELEASE - WITNESS STATEMENT ATTACHED


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
*Contact: Amy Roman Restucci (561) 860-3783


Miami-Dade Animal Services WhistleblowerOffers Eyewitness Testimony To Inhumane Mass Killing At Shelter

October 22 Incident Provokes Public Outcry

Miami, Fl. January 11. 2011 --- A former employee of Miami-Dade Animal Services has come forward to testify to the killing of dozens of animals by a brutal method known as heart-stick in an incident at the shelter on October 22, 2010. More formally known as intracardial injection or IC, the procedure is widely held to be grossly inhumane and its use is in fact constrained by Miami-Dades own policies. Their published Standard Operating Procedure manual specifies “an intracardiac injection should be done only if an animal is unconscious,with the procedure overall held by the shelter as a method of last resort. Such veterinary and animal protection bodies as the American Veterinary Medical Association and Humane Society of The United States have also issued guidelines for the procedures to use, the AVMA specifying that Intracardiac injection is acceptable only when performed on heavily sedated, anesthetized or comatose animals, owing to the difficulty and unpredictability of performing the injection accurately. Grace Avila, then an Animal Care Specialist at MDAS, alleges that on the evening of October 22, dozens of animals were killed by MDAS Vet Tech David Perez using IC without sedation, causing them to suffer terrifying and agonizing deaths.

These accusations have surfaced at a time when the shelter was already at the center of a firestorm of complaints by local citizens regarding living conditions within the shelter, the neglect and mishandling of animals, a kill-rate significantly higher than the national average and overall mismanagement by MDAS director Dr. Sara Pizano, DVM. In particular, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez’ Facebook page has recently become the target of innumerable postings by outraged citizens of not only Dade County, but animal advocates from around the country and abroad, including such countries as the U.K. and Kenya.
Local grass-roots animal advocate groups are calling for a general assessment of conditions inside the shelter by an outside agency, as well as a thorough investigation into the horrific events of October 22, and removal of shelter administrators Dr. Sara Pizano and Xiomara Mordcovich. Several informal groups of concerned citizens have formed in recent weeks with the intention of gaining wide-spread exposure of numerous documented incidents of neglect and mistreatment of animals in the custody of MDAS. Large scale public demonstrations are currently in the planning stages.
As of this writing David Perez remains in the employ of Miami-Dade Animal Services, and the only disciplinary action known to have been taken against him by the shelter is his demotion to DA, shelter terminology for dead animal removal.

Whistleblower Grace Avila was dismissed by the shelter on Monday, January 11.

# # #
Interviews with Grace Avila available upon request.

19 Doxies Dumped on Calif. Shelter

Click on pic to enlarge
In addition to Lucky and Lucy above,...there are 19 Doxies being surrendered to the Tulare County Animal Control today. Ages range from 5 years to senior citizen. We would like them out ASAP. The less time at the shelter the better. We are located in Visalia, CA between Fresno and Bakersfield.

Please contact Michelle Shanley at the shelter-559-636-3647 after 10:00am or by email:
mshanley@tularehhsa.org


Thank you for any assistance

Mystery Solved: Arkansas Birds Died of Blunt Force Trauma

UNDIAGNOSED DIE-OFF, AVIAN - USA (05): (ARKANSAS), TRAUMA
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A ProMED-mail post

ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases


Date: 6 Jan 2011
Source: JS Online [edited]



The mystery of the deaths of thousands of blackbirds in Arkansas this
month [January 2011] has been solved. They died of blunt-force
trauma, according to the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison.
Samples of the blackbirds -- and other blackbirds from a separate
mass die-off about the same time in Louisiana -- were brought to the
little-known laboratory on Madison's west side for necropsies.

"They died of impact force to their bodies," said Scott Wright, chief
of disease investigations at the center.

He said the birds clearly showed signs of bruises. The Arkansas Game
and Fish Commission said tests for evidence of pesticide poisoning
were negative.

At least 3000 red-winged blackbirds died on New Year's Eve near
Beebe, Arkansas. Fireworks probably sent them flying from their roost sites.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said the agency began receiving
reports of blackbirds falling from the sky about 11:30 p.m. on 31 Dec
2010 in a one-square-mile area of Beebe.

The mass kill spawned speculation that their demise was caused by a
chemical pollutant, a fear heightened by the arrival in Beebe of
workers combing neighborhoods in hazmat suits. As the story spread,
other theories ranged from biblical apocalypse to proof of the
presence of UFOs.

"It's believed that the noise startled them -- they are poor night
fliers -- and they were in close proximity to neighborhoods, and they
flew into homes and cars (and other objects)," Wright said.

A separate incident near Baton Rouge, Louisiana involving about 450
blackbirds is still under investigation by the center, Wright said.

"I think the 2 events are a coincidence," Wright said. Also
unrelated, he said, are the deaths of more than 80 000 freshwater
drum and a few yellow bass, white bass, and sauger in the Arkansas
River reported on 3 Jan 2011.

Wright said large scale deaths of birds and other species are not
uncommon. Storms, for example, wreak havoc on bird populations. Birds
are also vulnerable to chemical pollution and biological poisoning
from natural toxins.

For the blackbird species alone, there have been 16 incidents in
which 1000 or more birds have died in single events over the past 5
years, he said. The lab analyzes 300 to 500 large die-off events each
year. The deaths involve all wildlife. Deaths in 2010 were as varied
as the demise of 4500 bats from a fungal infection known as
white-nose syndrome in Bucks County, PA to the deaths of 150
raccoons, striped skunks, coyotes and red foxes in Los Angeles County.

The lab's website shows 9 separate mortality events since December
2010 alone. Eight of those events involved bird species, and one
involved the gunshot deaths of dozens of Brazilian free-tailed bats
near Pima, AZ. The National Wildlife Health Center also played a key
role in the study of chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin's
white-tailed deer population after an outbreak in February 2002.

"We don't know what we are going to get tomorrow, or the next day,
but it will be something," Wright said.

[Byline: Lee Bergquist]

--
Communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via
ProMED-mail

[The birds reportedly "fell from the sky." Trauma would certainly be
evident. While the necropsy of the birds rules out any apparent foul
play, it does not identify the reason the birds were flying at night
and flying into objects. - Mod.TG]

[see also:
Undiagnosed die-off, avian - USA (02): (AR, LA) 20110105.0055
Undiagnosed die-off, avian - USA: (AR), RFI 20110104.0036]
....................................................sb/tg/msp/mpp

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Vice Guide to the Carribean / Donkey Love

Pt. 1; http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=50d_1179015263

Pt. 2; http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=051_1179016330

Pt. 3; http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b5d_1179017318