aminal control
© Peter PereiraAn animal control officer looks at a chicken that was taken away from a property on Purchase Street in New Bedford.

New Bedford, Massachusetts - William Camacho has practiced Palo Mayombe, a syncretic Afro-Caribbean religion similar to Santeria, since he was a child.

Camacho, 41, said his religious practices, which include animal sacrificing, have gotten him into trouble with the city, which is considering filing animal cruelty charges against him.

"They violated my moral rights," said Camacho, owner of Bad Boyz Cutz, a downtown barbershop that was closed Tuesday after city inspectors found evidence of ritualistic animal sacrifice there, officials said.

Camacho denies he was sacrificing animals at his business, which he opened in 2008 at 664 Pleasant St.

"They had no right to shut me down," he said.

Just before noon Tuesday, city animal control officers removed two chickens and four roosters, one dead, from the barbershop's basement after fire and building inspectors found the farm birds during a routine safety inspection.

The chickens and roosters were kept in two pens next to a religious altar of candles, saint statues and hand-drawn religious symbols, said New Bedford Animal Control Officer Emanuel Maciel, who said the call first came in as a possible cockfighting ring.

"They weren't using them for fighting. If anything, (the birds) were being used for religious sacrificial purposes," said Maciel, who seized the roosters and chickens because they are not allowed within city limits. The poultry will be put up for adoption.

The dead rooster was sent to the state police laboratory for analysis. The cause of death was not apparent, according to the mayor's office.

Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure closed the barbershop indefinitely. Animal cruelty charges against Camacho are pending the outcome of a police investigation, the mayor's office said.

Camacho said he does not sacrifice animals at his business, only at religious ceremonies in rural settings.

Palo Mayombe incorporates elements of Roman Catholicism along with West African and native Indian traditions. The religion venerates ancestors' spirits and holds a belief in natural earth powers.

Like Santeria, Palo Mayombe features animal sacrifices, such as goats and chickens. The animals' blood is thought to have a sacred, powerful life force capable of healing and warding off evil spirits. After the sacrifice, the animals are cooked and eaten.

"The roosters go to heaven after the sacrifice. It's the traditional way," said Camacho, who has tattoos on his arms of his children's names, Jesus Christ and an Indian female warrior. He added that he occasionally uses spells for protection.

Camacho told The Standard-Times he had kept the farm birds in the shop basement for two days after moving out of his East Freetown home and said he planned to move them to a friend's house in Acushnet.

He said he kept scented candles to freshen the basement air.

"I run a clean shop here," said Camacho, a 41-year-old Bronx native who decorates his business with New York Yankees memorabilia.

Camacho's situation is but one example of how ritual animal sacrifices, real or alleged, generate conflicts between the law and religions such as Palo Mayombe and Santeria.

In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Florida city's ban on ritual animal sacrifice violated the religious freedoms of Santeria adherents.

In 2006, the city of Euless, Texas, refused to allow a Santeria priest to sacrifice a goat. Three years later, a federal court ruled in the priest's favor.

The New Bedford case highlights the tensions of religious practice with a municipality's legitimate interest in enforcing ordinances for public safety and health reasons, said attorney Laurence M. Johnson, chairman of the Massachusetts Bar Association's Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section, which advises lawyers on constitutional rights.

"It is perfectly plain under the First Amendment that people have a right to believe whatever religious beliefs they want, and they have a right to express their beliefs, but that does not mean they have a right to do whatever they want in practicing their religion," Johnson said.

Johnson said he felt a "little uneasy" that the state closed Bad Boyz Cutz.

"Once the roosters were removed, I don't see what the legitimate government purpose was of shutting down the barbershop," he said.

Camacho said officials moved to shut him down to cover themselves after they realized he was not running a cockfighting ring.

"I told them it was all for a religious purpose," he said.

Also saying that Palo Mayombe has prophetic powers, Camacho said Tuesday's events were actually predicted four days ago in a friend's dream.

"And who shows up at my door today? The cops."