How did pet chickens raised by California preschool kids end up mutilated and killed?

San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office deputies said they’re investigating the mysterious killings of chickens being raised as pets at a preschool.

Deputies got a report on Monday morning that someone had broken into the gates of the chicken and rabbit coops, Detective Rosemerry Blankswade told The San Francisco Chronicle. They also found a broken gate and window.

The dead chickens were found strewn around the yard and one rabbit was hopping around on Monday, according to The Chronicle.

“It seems unthinkable,” said Trina Sodha, a parent of one of the preschoolers told CBS San Francisco. “The manner in which the chickens were killed. How their bodies were violated. It just felt very callous.”

It was initially suspected that the person who broke in killed the chickens by “slicing them open with a sharp object,” school officials told CBS San Francisco.

Autopsies of the chickens showed that they were killed by animals, Blankswade told Bay Area News via The Mercury News. She also said a person had let them out of the coop.

“Nothing has led us to believe that more than just a vandalism took place there as far as human involvement,” Blankswade said.

This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 2:31 PM with the headline "How did pet chickens raised by California preschool kids end up mutilated and killed?."