IT'S hard to fathom what would make someone want to randomly kill chickens which are clearly being kept as children's pets.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The staff and students at Glenroi Heights Public School have been devastated by the brutal killing of six of their pet chickens.
The chickens were taken from their coup on the school grounds earlier this month and each one either strangled or hit on the head.
While once the children at the school had rallied to care for the birds and collect their eggs, now they are forced to look at an empty coup where their beloved pets once lived.
All schools are sacred places for children, no matter what happens at home, no matter what turmoil happens in other parts of their life, school is supposed to be a place of routine and security.
It must have proved very disturbing for young people to learn that their school grounds have been trespassed on, and the school's property destroyed in the most callous manor.
In many ways it would have been better had the chicken's carcasses been taken away by the perpetrator and eventually turned into food.
However the loss of life for no apparent reason is hard to understand.
There are many reasons people commit crimes like this, including boredom.
Of course this is only one of a string of animal cruelty incidents which have rocked the city.
In 2012 Lilibeth Warby's cat was shot and killed by a bow and arrow.
Ms Warby’s cat was shot outside her home near the corner of Moulder Street and Endsleigh Avenue and the incident was caught on a CCTV camera.
A similar incident occurred in Bathurst last year.
Police in the state’s west were also forced to investigate a horrific case of animal cruelty last year where a kangaroo is believed to have been beaten to death by a gang of youths.
During the course of their investigation police learnt that some youths had cornered a kangaroo and were in the process of beating it with rocks and a golf club.
It's sad to think there are people who obtain pleasure from harming animals.
It's also sad to think the beautiful children of Glenroi Heights Public School have been deprived of their right to raise chickens and experience all the joy these animals bring.