Santeria Part II. Had to.

Warning: Graphic pics. Don't look if you don't have the stomach for headless little animals. I don't have the stomach for them either, but how else will anyone know about it if I do nothing?

I didn't want this to be the Santeria hotspot, but the beheading hasn't stopped, and where else am I going to talk about it? The chicken couldn't have done much to deserve this, and the goat couldn't have been more than a week old. Some of the people practice their religion by crushing chalk, but not our knife wielding neighbors.

This is an older website about the LA River, as well as a homemade video of the LA River, both posted a year ago or so by one Jay Babcock. As it happens, I am not the only one interested in what the hell could be going on here.

Jay Babcock

Don't let it get you down, something can always be done. You can help, if you feel inspired to.

And, it just so happens that there is a proactive group called "Friends of the LA River", and we have plenty of good reasons to speak to them or to join their group. The poor headless babies are only one of the reasons, if you can believe that. If you only knew what kind of mayhem goes down regularly at the beautiful, magical and sometimes serene LA River.

Dear Friends of the LA River,

My husband and I live close to the river and we go there often - and lately we've been seeing headless chickens, roosters and yesterday a headless baby goat. I don't know how long its been happening, but according to some of my neighbors, this has been going on for a long time there. There are always red ribbons tied around the neighboring trees, and its very disturbing. I guess my question is, has this come to your attention before, and if it has, is there anything any of us can do about it?

I'm aware that "religious rights" can, at times prohibit law enforcement from doing much about it, but then that's only what I've heard or read. I don't know who is actually beheading these animals, but I would imagine it could be anyone. My best guess is that it's a Santeria practice. Please let me know if you have any other information on this; we've taken photos each time we see this in the hopes that it may shed light on the problem and assist in stopping it somehow.

Thanks,
Ohell

Hi Ohell,

Wow. This is the first time I've heard anything about this. Besides

the truly disgusting beheading factor, no matter your religious beliefs,

you still can't litter. I'd say leaving a beheaded animal in the River

counts as leaving potential biohazard waste. I would start by notifying your

councilmember. Do you know which district you're in? The website to find your councilmember is:

http://lacity.org/lacity/YourGovernment/CityCouncil/index.htm

And if you're having trouble let me know. I can help you figure that

out. Also, I can call the councilmember, too. If it's along the River, I

probably know them. Thanks for reporting this. I'm sorry that you have to see this all

the time...

CR

Hi CR,

I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly....I don't know why, I just assumed it might have been widespread common knowledge once I saw the animals. I only heard about it a few months ago, but didn't put a lot of stock in it, because the source was living in a hospital, of sorts....anyway I don't doubt them now! I looked up our councilmember and it's Eric Garcetti. If we're close to the river, but not actually living along (or at) the river, so would he still be our representative? If so, I'll try to get in touch with him.

It's such a tricky situation, but you're right - at the very least it's littering. I would love to know if any of these animals are protected by the law, I'm just not sure they are, which would be really unfortunate.

Thanks again,
Ohell

Hi Ohell,

Yes, I'd say the place to start is Garcetti's office. Try the district
office:

3750 Verdugo Road
Los Angeles, CA 90065
(323)478-9002

They should be able to at least tell you what you can do. The other option,
I guess, is to call the police. Just tell them there's blood everywhere and
they'll show up...

It's very sad that the animals don't have protections in the case of
religious rituals. And it's disgusting that someone is just leaving the
remains around. I will also contact Garcetti and see what they can do about
it - or if they can't do anything...

Thanks for letting us know.

CR

I called Garcetti's office with a message. He was just re-elected and appears to be doing a fine job. I will likely hear from his Sec'y in the near future - if I don't, then I will need to assemble a night-goggle-infrared team without his input.