ZD, DY is correct. When there is an unsolved death(a body has been found just outside the boundary of the city (?), a calf is taken and axed in the neck, as a sign that something was deficient in the people of the city where a man could leave and end up dead, with no one caring about him as he left. Some words of mussar are said to the people, too. The Ir hanidachas is a city wherein everyone is corrupt beyond salvation. Two different cases.
DY, forgive my ignorance, but I see this expression a lot and don’t know what it stands for. What is “AFAIK?”