COURT RULES 'KAPPAROT' RITUAL VIOLATES ANIMAL SLAUGHTER LAWS
Haaretz, Amiram Cohen and Yair Ettinger, September 19, 2007

A Petach Tikvah court on Tuesday ruled that the ritual slaughter of chickens for the Yom Kippur "kapparot" ritual is a violation of state regulations on animal slaughter.

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American rabbis also have expressed reservations about the proper slaughter of these animals, prompted by a complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. A report by PETA about cruelty toward chickens before Yom Kippur led a group of Hasidic rabbis to discuss reducing the animals' suffering. The U.S. edition of the Orthodox publication Hamodia ran an editorial calling for greater supervision of the slaughter.

more at:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/904943.html