Sunday in the park with Santería

So.
I, as do many other folks, jog in Inwood Hill Park, as well as Fort Tryon Park. The hills are huge and it is a great work out. Well- on one of my first jogs in the park I winded myself on a hill and had to take a breather -stopping at one of the outlooks. I paced a bit and walked around. I decided to go onto the little outlook and look over the edge.

Just then, I heard a crow in a tree, and I noticed about 40 crows all looking at me. It was creepy. Then I noticed they were not looking at me- they were looking just to the left of me. Glad that I wasn't the focus of their hungry eyes- I looked down and there on the ground was half of a chicken tied to a tree branch. Now I say half, and I mean it. There was half a chicken tied to a tree branch, and the other half was no where to be found.

I asked a friend about it, and he told me that some people practice Santería in the park after hours, and this was part of what they do. Well of course this prompted a bunch of research on my behalf as I wanted to understand exactly why I may be finding half of a chicken tied to a log on my morning run.

Well, now this morning I went running in the park and I came across two guys taking pictures of something. I slowed down to see what it was. This time it was a living chicken. A big fat red hen, that was kinda beat up and looked like it had escaped the other chickens fate.

I can only assume that these are from Santería rituals performed in the dark after hours. That, or the recent Renaissance Festival in Fort Tryon is short a few chickens......

But anyway...

From Wikipedia:

"Santería also known as "La Regla de Lukumi," is an Afro-Caribbean religion derived from traditional beliefs of the Yoruba people of Nigeria."

Now, this religion has faced much controversy over its practice of animal sacrifice. In fact, in 1993 the issue was taken to the Supreme court when animal rights activists targeted the group saying their sacrifices of animals were cruel.

On this subject Wikipedia then states;

"The Supreme Court ruled that animal cruelty laws targeted specifically at Yoruba were unconstitutional: the Yoruba practice of animal sacrifice has seen no significant legal challenges since then."

I do have to say, I'm not fond of thinking that up in a public park there are people killing chickens at night.

But I guess I am also a bit confused as to why the pieces of the bird or the entire bird would be left there in plain sight where people can find it...

But all the same- this is certainly an ongoing practice in the neighborhood, and if you see half a dead chicken on your morning run--now you know what one explanation may be.

So in the words of Sondheim;

"Into the woods to go to the [Renaissance] Festival-! Into the woods! Into the woods! Into the woods-Then out of the woods, And home before dark!"

Have a safe jog in the park.

New York City Department of Parks & Recreation:
General Park Hours; Parks: Sunrise to 1 AM, Playgrounds: 8 AM to Dusk.


UPDATE:

So I went running again this morning, and who should I find on the path in front of me by the Dog Walk? My little red hen. But she didn't look so good. A few days in the park had made her weak and she was just sitting on the asphalt path with her eyes half closed while lots of green flies swarmed her. It was awful. I came close enough to her that she became alert, but then she just closed her eyes again as if to say " there ain't a thing you can do that could be worse than what I already went through."
The fact is she will probably die in the park.
I couldn't really allow that, so of course I run home and call 311. Sylvia answers and I tell her all the info. Then she tells me it may take up to 5 days to respond. What?? Really? Five?!
Okay,, well that is about all I can do other than trying to take a hen home with me and nurse it back to health in my bathtub or something.

So. The red hen is still there. On closer inspection it looks like someone ripped her tail out. It's pretty awful. I hope she gets some help.

So yea. I couldn't find any of the park people there.. oh but get this.. FIRST I went to Fort Tryon's Cloisters museum and asked the security people if they could help with the situation and locate the park people. They said "We have nothing to do with the park."
While that is all well and good, and I respect that. I also think it is a slightly miserable and self defeating stance on the situation. For instance-- you have nothing to do with the park? Therefore, I assume that park has nothing to do with you? Ok. Say the park suddenly can't afford to have it's grounds kept up, and is abandoned to the same extent as Inwood Hill park. I think the cloisters would find themselves in a bit of a pinch when bum encampments spring up in the land around them that they have 'nothing to do with'.

That is a bit of a rant, but it just sounded so silly when it came out of his mouth.

So anyway-- some park person within the next five days will probably find the hen- dead or alive- and then probably euthanize it anyway. It's sort of sad.