Sherrif: Man killed 70,000

[Planetman]

Sheriff: Drunken man turns off power on poultry farm, causes death of 70,000 chickens

By James Eng, NBC News

A man wandering around a Delmar, Md., poultry farm in a drunken stupor turned off the power to three chicken houses, causing the deaths of nearly 70,000 chickens, sheriff’s officials said.

The property owner who made the grisly discovery found the man, identified as Joshua D. Shelton, 21, of Delmar, Md., passed out on the floor of the power control shed, wearing only a T-shirt and boxer shorts.



“This subject was also lying in a pool of his own urine. A strong odor of alcohol was also coming from the subject,” Wicomico County sheriff’s Lt. Tim Robinson said in a press release.

The investigating deputy awakened the man.

“Shelton advised the last thing he remembered was being on the property after a nearby concert but did not know how he ended up in the shed. The deputy surmised that in his intoxicated state, Shelton turned off the circuit breakers that controlled the electricity to the chicken houses,” Robinson said.

Shelton was arrested and booked into jail on charges of second-degree burglary, trespass and malicious destruction of property.

The property owner discovered the dead chickens Saturday morning. He told investigators that without power, the chickens will begin to die within 15 minutes. The birds, which were due to be delivered to a local processing plant the following day, were valued at $20,000.

Allen Farms, which was going to process the birds, estimated its loss at $220,000, said sheriff's Chief Deputy Gary Baker.

Shelton had been at the owner's property the previous evening with a group of people that included the owner’s daughter, Baker said.

“The daughter thought he left, but instead he wandered into the shed where all the power controls and breakers were and turned it off,” Baker told NBC News on Tuesday.

"Quite frankly, he was probably in a condition where he really didn’t know what he was doing,” Baker said.

"The theory is that he may have been in there looking for a light switch," Robinson told DelmarvaNow.com.

Baker said he’s heard of flocks of chickens dying due to natural occurrences such as drought and heat waves, "but never anything like this manmade that we can remember.”

Bill Satterfield, executive director of Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., a local trade group, said he was surprised by news of the poultry caper.

"I have never heard of a drunkard going in and killing chickens," he told DelmarvaNow.com. "This is a new one on me, and it's unfortunate that it occurred."

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012...-chickens?lite

[BigMeatballDave]

Winner winner, chicken dinner

[Discuss Thrower]

By far the foulest of mass killings. The law should tread lightly less they look upon this heinous act as a poultry happening.

[Dave Lane]

So the farmer makes $20,000 and the corporate processing plant makes $225,000 off the same chickens. Seems fair.

[KcMizzou]

Pfft... rookie.

[boogblaster]

dogfood plant will buy em .....

[Psyko Tek]

was a kid me and my little sister used to love it when grandam got her chicks incubated
playing with 100's of f;fluffy baby chicks..

good time
and then 9 months later having to scad and plunk those bastards

[Imon Yourside]

[KcMizzou]

Originally Posted by Psyko Tek

was a kid me and my little sister used to love it when grandam got her chicks incubated
playing with 100's of f;fluffy baby chicks..

good time
and then 9 months later having to scad and plunk those bastards

Life on the farm.

[ghak99]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

So the farmer makes $20,000 and the corporate processing plant makes $225,000 off the same chickens. Seems fair.

[ghak99]

Originally Posted by Psyko Tek

was a kid me and my little sister used to love it when grandam got her chicks incubated
playing with 100's of f;fluffy baby chicks..

good time
and then 9 months later having to scad and plunk those bastards

You didn't get to cut the head off and watch them go nuts?

I hated that stinking boiling mess, but I've never laughed as hard as I did when I watched a headless chicken chase my scared shitless little sister across the yard.

[cdcox]

Dude's gonna have to pay for his mistake. Tough cluck.

[mikey23545]

He should fry for something like that.

If this loss were anything like gasoline, I'd fully expect to pay $43 for a 3-piece dinner at Popeyes tomorrow afternoon... and off to D.C. we go.

Originally Posted by mikey23545

He should fry for something like that.

In the old days, he quite literally would be tarred and feathered.