Court Says Animal Slaughter Ban Not A Land Use Regulation Under RLUIPA

In Merced v. City of Euless, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3685 (ND TX, Jan. 17, 2008), a Texas federal district judge ruled that a Euless, Texas ordinance banning the slaughter of animals or maintaining property to slaughter animals is not a land use regulation. Therefore it is not covered by the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. The ruling was made in a lawsuit brought by an ordained Santeria Oba who views animal sacrifice as an essential part of his religion. The priest was told by authorities in 2006 that he could not kill goats as part of a religious ceremony. The court wrote: "If defendant's ordinance regulating the activity of slaughtering animals were construed as a land use regulation under RLUIPA, then any ordinance that regulates a person's activities, as all activities are in some way conducted on land, would potentially be subject to RLUIPA." Yestereday's Dallas Morning News reports on the decision.