Dozens of chickens slaughtered in community centre rampage

[dutchman]

Staff have been left shocked and appalled after a horrifying attack at a community centre in Coventry.


Lynda Round and Lorna Round with the broom used to kill the chickens

Workers at Henley Green Community Centre found 26 chickens they were looking after had been slaughtered during a break-in on Sunday night.

The following night the thugs returned and pinned a dead chicken to a gate.

Sue Marriott, 58, who cooks in the Cozy Cafe at the centre, described her horror as she discovered the first attack on Monday morning.

She said: “I went to go and get an egg from the coop and as I was walking down the path I saw a chicken lying dead on the floor. When I got to the pen, the door was open and dead chickens were everywhere.”

Volunteer Lynda Round, aged 53, was also appalled by what she saw on Monday.

“It was carnage. The chicken’s heads had been pulled off, their wings had been twisted out of place, they had been battered with the handle of the yard brush. Some had been left half alive and we had to put them out of their misery.

"They were just left like that.

“There’s a nursery here, and a playground. It’s fenced off for the kids and they had thrown dead chickens inside there. It was a despicable act.

"The policeman who came on Monday said it was so vile that he didn’t know how he was going to write it up.”

In order to access the coop, which normally houses over 30 rescued battery chickens, the perpetrators had to climb over a metal barrier, then climb over a ten-foot gate covered in anti-climb paint, before using the prongs of a rake to twist open the lock of the chicken coop door.

Bizarrely, after butchering the chickens, the vandals made off with more than 20 eggs.

Sue said: “The people who did this are sick. I would love to know why they did this. I just cannot understand it at all - it’s beyond reason. It’s all really affected me. It’s felt like a bereavement.”

Lynda added: “It’s heartbreaking. The children from the nursery love seeing the chickens and always go to look at them. They will be so upset. I can’t believe anybody would do such a spiteful thing just for the sake of it.”

Only six chickens were left alive, and one, who was injured, is making a slow recovery in Lorna’s house.

Lorna, who is secretary of the community centre in Wyken Croft, told how the yobs returned on the second night and pinned a dead chicken to a gate at the coop. She said: “They did it to torture and torment us.”

Police are investigating and appealing for information about the attack.