Chickens stolen from Fitch principal's house; one found in burlap sack

AUSTINTOWN

Chickens belonging to Austintown Fitch High School Principal Chris Berni are missing.

They didn’t simply fly the coop. Berni suspects they fell victim to a “very evil, disrespectful prank.”

Berni had eight chickens in a coop behind his home in a rural area in the township. He said he checked on them about 4:45 a.m. Tuesday and found “feathers everywhere” in the coop and on the ground and five birds missing.

“Near the henhouse on the ground was a Budweiser can, and I know a predator like a raccoon doesn’t drink Budweiser,” Berni quipped.

He quickly realized something bad had happened.

“It was disbelief and absolute shock and just feeling violated. And also thinking ... that I have a wife and four kids, wanting to just look out for them and knowing that people know where we live, and who is to say they don’t come back and do something.”

One chicken was recovered in a burlap sack behind the backstop of a baseball field on campus. The chicken was alive within the sack, and a second empty Budweiser can was left by the sack.

Berni said the empty beer cans were left as a sign.

Read more about the theft and animal mistreatment in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.