Someone’s idea of a “senior prank” at Ponderosa High School turned out to be animal cruelty when a student Wednesday morning dropped 45 chicks from a second- floor balcony onto the school’s main office area.
Seven of the birds died, and an eighth was not expected to survive, officials at the Parker-area school said.
“Unfortunately (it was) something students think is silly, and it turns out to be senseless,” said Mike Lynch, director of schools at Douglas County School District. “Why would somebody do something like this?”
The surviving chicks were taken to a school staff member’s home.
School officials are trying to identify the student from surveillance footage.
Freshman Brenna McLaughlin couldn’t believe what she was witnessing outside her classroom window.
“I saw a bunch of things falling, and afterward, I hear they were chickens,” McLaughlin said.
Students described seeing blood and lifeless chicks.
School officials said the student who dropped the chicks will face school discipline and the case will be forwarded to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident occurred just before 9 a.m.
After realizing what had been dropped, Lynch said, students and staff were horrified and some made a protective circle around the surviving chicks.
