PETITION TARGET: Santa Barbara Juvenile Court
Four chickens were brutally beaten to death with a blunt object at a campus church at University of California Santa Barbara, according to news.
The hens – Shadow, Sunshine, Speckles, and Siracha – were considered family by their community guardians.
“Our chickens were not just animals, but cherished members of our community,” said Carly Marto, the Program Manager of Isla Vista Compost Collective, where the hens lived. “They brought us joy and companionship, and their loss will be deeply felt.”
The innocent hens were tranquil in the coop they called home when a person entered and attacked. Two of the hens tried to escape by hiding beneath the floorboards, according to a witness, but the assailant tore out the floorboards. One of the beloved hens was carried outside their coop, taken behind a bush, and mercilessly beat to her death. When another hen fled, the assailant chased her down, captured her, and continued the killing spree.
The witness confronted the attacker and asked why he killed the chickens.
“For fun,” he reportedly responded with a shrug.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested the suspect of this brutal killing: a 14-year-old male whose description also matched that of someone who had reportedly killed local ducklings. The Sheriff’s Office stated in a news release that the suspect was taken into custody.
These sweet hens did not deserve to suffer the terror of being chased down or to be bludgeoned to death.
Sign our petition urging the Santa Barbara Juvenile Court to treat this case with the severity it deserves — including intensive psychological intervention for the person responsible for this violence.
