(JTA) — California regulators ordered two Orthodox Jewish groups in Los Angeles to stop performing the Yom Kippur ritual kapparot.

The state’s Department of Food and Agriculture on Friday shut down kapparot at the Ohel Moshe synagogue and the Beit Aaron outreach organization. They were accused of operating unlicensed slaughterhouses, according to reports.

Animal rights activists had protested the act in the days before the closure orders.

Kapparot involves swinging a live chicken over one’s head three times and reciting a prayer to cast sins to the bird. In recent years, money has replaced the chicken in the rite.