Editorial: Sumpter needs to get a handle on illegal slaughtering

We remember when Three Farmers applied for a license to turn the former dog kennel on Bemis Road into a slaughterhouse. It took them a very long time to jump through all the hoops, but now it is being held up as a good example of a place to get halal-quality meat. Sumpter should be proud of that business.
Besides Three Farmers, there are other legal halal slaughterhouses in the area that can be patronized, including Michigan Halal in Wayne, Berry and Son in Detroit, and Wolverine in Detroit. And, there are hundreds of halal markets throughout Wayne County.
Then, there are the few in Sumpter Township who are performing backyard slaughtering without proper licensing or zoning, seeking to avoid licensing, business expenses, and permits like other local businesses have to have.
They are causing problems in the rural neighborhoods that are used to the smells of farming, but not the rank smell of dead carcasses – some thrown out on the ground or in dumpsters — so close to the neighbors’ homes.
Sumpter needs to get a grip on these backyard slaughterhouses that buy animals in quantity, have them delivered, and then kill them and sell the meat at their doorsteps, with no signs in the yard. The Right to Farm Act does not allow this kind of activity. And, Freedom of Religion does not mean you don’t have to follow the rules everyone else has to follow.