French vets warn farmers of theft of sacrificial animals ahead of Yom Kippur, Eid

A municipality near Paris warns farmers of an elevated risk of theft of sheep and fowl ahead of the Muslim and Jewish holidays of Eid al-Adha and Yom Kippur, respectively.

The warning, which provoked angry reactions on the part of communal leaders who felt it was discriminatory, came in a letter sent earlier this month by veterinary services of Hauts-de-Seine, an area comprising several suburbs east of the French capital, the Le Paisien Weekly reported last week.

The letter instructs farmers to practice “the highest degree of alertness” ahead of the Muslim holiday, which this year falls on September 1, and the Jewish one 28 days later, because followers of those religions perform “unauthorized sacrifices” of sheep and chickens, respectively.

On Eid al-Adha, some Muslims sacrifices sheep and lambs in conditions that animal rights activists find cruel, and which also provoke resistance by opponents of Muslim immigration. And in the hours prior to Yom Kippur, in some Jewish communities roosters and chickens are waved several times in the air and slaughtered as atonement for sins incurred during the previous year. The meat is given to charity. Religious laws forbid the use of a stolen chicken for the rite.

“Ill-intentioned individuals could try to catch the animals in order to perform clandestine slaughters,” the circular also warns.

Joel Mergui, president of the Consistoire, the organization responsible for providing religious services to Jewish communities, said that after reading about the circular, he was “amazed to discover” that he “suddenly and collectively, with all the coreligionists of the Jewish faith, become a potential chicken thief,” Mergui, a physician and one of French Jewry’s most highly-regarded leaders, told the La Croix daily Friday.

— JTA