Twenty chickens, victims of a religious ritual, have found safety at Popcorn Park Zoo. The twenty were among two hundred being used in a religious ritual in Brooklyn, N.Y., where they were grabbed by their legs and swung over the heads of the participants to ward off evil spirits. Although the chickens were supposed to have been killed after the ritual, they were instead just thrown out with the garbage in inclement weather.

Kymberlie Adams, a New York animal lover was able to recover all of them and placed them in temporary housing at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary. All the chickens were given initial health examinations and basic care. Blood tests were conducted to check for disease and they were found to be negative. Kymberlie then started contacting groups to take in whatever they could. In response, Popcorn Park accepted twenty of the very shy birds.

At present, the small group of chickens huddle together staying away from people, and do not wander out in to the public area. Hopefully, the peaceful atmosphere at the Zoo will help them overcome their traumatizing experience, and they will feel comfortable enough to roam about as our other chickens and ducks do.

Not every animal rescue becomes an animal available for sponsorship on the Wildlife Club, and if you visit Popcorn Park, you'll see quite a few faces that never appear in the Wildlife Club, on the web site or in the Humane News ... we just rescue them because we can, like we did these chickens, and give them a good life. Won't you please help support our efforts?