A high school baseball team's season has been suspended, and the players are now under investigation after police say the team killed a chicken on their baseball field prior to leaving for a road trip.
The Valley Center (Kan.) Department of Public Safety confirmed to the local CBS affiliate that a chicken was killed on the baseball diamond at Valley Center High School.
Police say they were contacted by a high school resource officer on Monday about allegations that the baseball team had killed a chicken on the field before traveling to an away game Saturday.
On Monday afternoon, the district sent a letter to parents alerting them that the varsity baseball team’s season has been suspended because of an animal cruelty investigation.
Police are investigating the crime as animal cruelty with malicious torture or killing, which is a felony in Kansas.
Investigators are trying to determine who was on the field when the chicken was killed and whether coaches or other adults were involved.
Two high school baseball players in Texas were accused of a similar crime back in 2011.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Associated Press, two baseball players for Western Hills (Texas) High were banned from the school's team for the remainder of the 2011 season after police began investigating reports that the unnamed teens sacrificed live chickens on the Western Hills baseball field.
