Feathers flew in Brooklyn when an animal-rights zealot tried to bust up a Jewish religious ritual by stealing a coop full of chickens about to be ceremonially swung in the air and then slaughtered, sources said.
Hesa Tushar, 39, allegedly swiped the birds from a crate on 50th Street in Borough Park Sunday as they were being held for a celebration of kapparot, in which the birds would be waved over people’s heads as part of a ritualistic transfer of sins.
Wearing a T-shirt enscribed with “Mercy for Animals,” Tushar shoved the fowl into the back of his SUV and tried to fly the coop. He didn’t get far.
Cops and members of the Shomrim civilian patrol caught up to him after about two blocks, and he was arrested and charged with petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Tushar’s supporters insisted he wasn’t a common poultry thief — he was a heroic chicken defender trying to stop a yearly ritual that animal-rights activists despise.
“This is cruelty in and of itself,” said Karen Davis, president of the Virginia-based United Poultry Concerns.
She said that, despite kapparot participants claiming the birds are treated well and the carcasses given to the poor, the manner in which the birds are swung and butchered is not up to humane standards.
“You cannot just set up a slaughter facility however makeshift on the city streets,” Davis said.
Nuta Blumberg, a Borough Park resident who bought several chickens for his family at the event, said he understood the cultural disagreements but that was no excuse to steal.
“If you’re an animal activist, why steal chickens?” He said. “Why not go to all the supermarkets that have lobster tanks and steal the lobsters. We don’t condone animal abuse.”
Tushar could not be reached for comment.
Every year, thousands of chickens in Brooklyn and beyond are sacrificed as part of a ceremony practiced by some Hasidic sects at around the time of the High Holidays. Kapparot is the Hebrew word for “atonement,” according to Jewishmag.com.
Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton