Butcher chases after calf that escaped his shop and slits its throat outside store

A butcher chased after a calf that escaped his shop and slit its throat outside a hardware store.

The calf escaped the Saba Live Poultry store in Bloomfield, Connecticut on July 13 and ran across a street behind the shop.

Dashcam footage from police officers chasing the animal shows the calf eluding numerous people who tried to corral it. An unnamed contractor doing work nearby even tried to take the animal down with a crossbow, but missed the animal.

Butcher shop employees were finally able to subdue the calf in a Home Depot parking lot- then, Badr Musaed, who works at the Saba Live Poultry shop, slit its throat.

The incident outraged animal rights activists who have condemned the public slaughter. Saba Live Poultry store is halal, meaning it kills animals using knives in accordance with Islamic law.

Bilal Musid, the manager of the butchery, has since apologized for the public killing, but claimed his employees were afraid the animal would hurt someone.

He said: ‘It was kind of even attacking employees…I understand the anger, but I didn’t want this to happen either.’

In footage that captured the incident, an officer can be heard telling Musaed, as he holds what appears to be a bloody rag, that killing the animal was a problem, especially because a bystander was watching.

‘Like this kid here just watched you slit a cow’s throat,’ the officer says.

Musaed replies that the man is a frequent customer of the butcher shop, but the cop responds, saying: ‘Ok, but we’re not in your store right now. We’re in the back of a home depot.’

People began expressing anger on the butcher shop’s Facebook page, which has been temporarily disabled. The company’s Yelp site has also been suspended because of media attention and anti-Muslim comments.

Captain Stephen Hajdasz, a public information officer with the Bloomfield police, said authorities are considering an animal cruelty charge for Musaed and a disorderly conduct charge for the contractor who tried to stop the animal with an arrow.

The state Department of Agriculture investigated the shop after the incident and sent a cease-and-desist order, citing conditions at the facility that would result ‘in imminent and substantial harm to health of the animals.’ The order has since been lifted.

On Sunday, 40 people took part in a vigil in the parking lto where the animal was killed. Afterwards they held a protest outside the shop, Brandy Petrone, one of the event’s organizers said.

Amber Canavan, a spokeswoman for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, said everyone who is horrified by the incident in the Home Depot parking lot would be appalled at what happens in slaughter farms around the country.

Canavan said the organization plans to put a billboard near where the animal was killed, saying: ‘I’m me, not meat. See the individual. Go Vegan.’