Boy's screaming kills chickens
2007-01-24 18:50
Beijing - Hundreds of chickens have been found dead in east China - and a court has ruled that the cause of death was the screaming of a four-year-old boy who in turn had been scared by a barking dog, state media reported on
Wednesday.
The bizarre sequence events began when the boy arrived at a
village home in the eastern province of Jiangsu in the summer
with his father who was delivering bottles of gas, the Nanjing
Morning Post reported.
A villager was quoted as saying the little boy bent over
the henhouse window, screaming for a long time, after being
scared by the dog.
"One neighbour told police that he had heard the boy's
crying that afternoon and another villager confirmed the boy
screaming by the henhouse window," the newspaper said.
A court ruled the boy's screaming was "the only unexpected
abnormal sound" and that 443 chickens trampled each other to
death in fear.
The boy's father was ordered to pay 1 800 (R1 652) in
compensation to the owner of the chickens.