PATERSON, N.J. — The barn teemed with the baas of wooly sheep, the mooing of cows and the munching of goats – nearly 2,000 livestock tucked away at the end of a street in an industrial part of Paterson, New Jersey.

The animal abode is part of ENA Meat Packing, a 33-year-old halal slaughterhouse among the largest of its kind in the U.S. The family-owned operation harvests more than 400,000 animals each year according to Islamic standards.