The animals were found in the commune of Drancy, which is located in the notorious Seine-Saint-Denis suburb to the north of Paris, according to French daily Le Parisien.
Ritual halal slaughter is prohibited by French law outside of a registered slaughterhouse for hygiene reasons as well as to combat animal cruelty.
Police were tipped off by the association for the defence of animals and found more animals located at three separate addresses, in Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil.
Police also arrested a man last week after he had illegally shot two sheep.
In February, the weekly Journal de Dimanche revealed that in a survey most French respondents were against the creation of a tax on halal products, which included meat products from ritual animal slaughter. The revenues from the “halal tax” would be used to finance Muslim worship in France.
A large majority – 70 percent – opposed to the idea with only 29 percent of French people saying they were in favor of a “halal tax”.
France is not the only country debating ritual slaughter of animals, with similar debates taking place in Belgium, the UK, the Netherlands and Austria.
In Belgium, with two of the country’s three regions are planning to ban slaughter when animals are not stunned beforehand. Flanders and Wallonia are set to ban unstunned Islamic ritual slaughter in 2019, while the practice will remain legal in Brussels. The city has a large Muslim population.
In fact, last year it was revealed that 51 non-profit groups operating out of the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek, had direct links to radical Islamic terrorism.
In the UK, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Animals (RSPCA) has denounced halal slaughter. The RSPCA also accused the government of trying to increase sales of UK halal products to Saudi Arabia.
“To minimise unnecessary animal suffering, we believe it should follow other European nations and ban the export of meat from non-stunned animals.”
In Austria, both Jewish and Muslim groups have condemned a proposal by a regional leader in Austria to sell halal and kosher meat only to registered, religious-observant customers.
The proposal came from Gottfried Waldhäusl, environment minister for the Freedom Party (FPÖ) in the state of Lower Austria, which he said was necessary “from an animal welfare point of view”.
Opposition politicians slammed the proposal, saying it would be at odds with constitutional guarantees on freedom of religion.
“This sudden outrage over slaughtering has nothing to do with animal welfare and a lot more to do with an anti-migration mood,” Pinchas Goldschmidt, head of 700-member Conference of European Rabbis, told Der Standard daily last month.
FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache revived the issue on Facebook saying “animal slaughter without anaesthetic should be forbidden”.
David Lasar, a Jewish member of the FPÖ, said he was concerned about “animal slaughter tourism”, with animals brought there for slaughter from countries with tighter animal welfare rules such as the Netherlands.
Enis Buzar, halal spokesman for Austria’s Muslim community, said he had “no knowledge at all” of living animals being brought to Austria from the Netherlands.