Norfolk – Police are seeking the people who beheaded and disemboweled a baby lamb and a half dozen chickens and roosters on an East Ocean View beach, apparently as part of a religious ritual. The concern is not that the animals were slain, but that the remains were not cleaned up. Glen Davies, a police spokesman, said it is apparent that the animals were slain as part of a Santeria religious ritual. The remains were found by passers-by on the beach near the 2000 block of East Ocean View Ave. on Wednesday morning. Animal control officers were called in to gather the remains and dispose of them.

Santeria’s roots are found in West Africa. It was later developed by Yoruba slaves in Cuba and is presently practiced by an estimated 1 million people in the United States. Rites are led by a priest or priestess, and its most important rituals involve animal sacrifice. In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the sacrifices were a constitutionally protected religious practice.