Animals Removed From House of Sacrifice

April 23, 2007

Author: Vianna Davila

Source: Express-News

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA042407.01B.animal_sacrifice.34ef4fd.html

In a West Side backyard, behind a bright yellow building that advertises the sale of amulets and healing herbs, police said they stumbled across what may have been the remnants of a very real religious ceremony: a pigeon missing its heart.

By the time it was all over, Animal Care Services removed two roosters, at least one of them injured; more than a dozen chicks and hens; two pigeons; and three turtles from the location, a police report said.

"This is Santeria," said Diana Patricia Martinez, who along with shop co-owner Lee Nelly Morales was arrested and charged with animal cruelty Sunday morning after officers entered their home. "It's a religion."

"Plus, we eat them," she later added in an interview Monday.

Police responded to the Botanica Agayu Chola shop in the 2900 block of West Commerce Street after someone reported that a caged rooster was living outside without food or water.