LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- A Gwinnett County church has been dealing with a smelly problem. Members of the church have been finding dead animals at the cemetery behind the church. Gwinnett Animal Control officers think it’s much more than a coincidence. They believe they were killed as part of a religious sacrifice.

“It was smelling very bad, very bad smell,” said Joseph Varughese.

Joseph Varughese and 70 other members of Atlanta Christian Brethern Assembly in Lawrenceville didn’t know where the smell was coming from when they came to worship. They didn’t have to look very far.

“We found the dead goat here in the garbage bag,” said Varughese, pointing at a grave in the cemetery.

A week later, ducks were left on the same grave.

“The animal control told me it’s a kind of sacrifice or something,” said Varughese.

Animal control officers said they believe the goat and ducks found in the cemetery were killed as part of a religious sacrifice called Santeria. Animal sacrifices are made for several reasons as part of the religion, such as showing devotion or curing sickness.

Varughese understands there are different types of religion, but he doesn’t want anything dumped behind the church, disgracing the graves at the cemetery.

“It should not be the place to dump bad things here. That is very bad. They should not do that,” said Varughese,

Officers said it’s legal to sacrifice animals as part of a religion as long as the animals are not tortured. It is illegal to dump the animals.