- The boy, 9 years old, is said to have visited the zoo under surveillance on several occasions.
- He killed up to 12 animals by strangulation
- The boy will not be prosecuted because he is under twelve years old
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Last week, a primary school student went on an animal killing spree at a petting zoo in the Netherlands. The director, horrified, claims that the young boy “showed no emotion after the act”.
The nine-year-old carried out the violent massacre in Hoek van Holland, a town in the Netherlands, where he killed up to nine rabbits and two guinea pigs, according to local reports.
The boy reportedly visited the petting zoo several times under supervision, but this time he made the trip alone.
Local media reported that the boy entered the petting zoo late in the afternoon of March 11 and went in search of the rabbits and guinea pigs.
But in a shocking turn of events, the child ended up strangling most of them to death, in an incident whose motives remain a mystery.
A nine-year-old boy went on an animal killing spree last week at a petting zoo in Hoek van Holland, the Netherlands.
He allegedly killed up to nine rabbits and two guinea pigs before police arrested him.
The director of the petting zoo said the young boy “showed no emotion after his action.”
The animal’s killer was quickly arrested by police and the boy’s parents arrived at the scene.
Following the bizarre incident, baffled experts expressed shock at the boy’s massacre and described the incident as “sick”.
Ali Dorenbos, director of Rekerhout Children’s Zoo in Alkmaar, said De Telegraaf: ‘It makes you absolutely sick!’
She once had to deal with animal abuse, recalling: “Sheep were slaughtered with bows and arrows, their udders were torn off, and goats were shaken by their horns.”
Calves were also beaten blue and chickens and ducks were hanged.
Another expert, Anne-Marie Le Buhan from the Het Geitenweitje Foundation in Laren, was also stunned by this macabre act.
‘Horrible. How? It’s very extreme. And was there no surveillance? she asked.
The boy will not be prosecuted after the Hoek van Holland incident as he is under the age of twelve, but reports indicate he will enter a care programme.
“I feel sorry for the animals, but also for the little boy who apparently feels so bad that he has to do this,” said psychiatrist Esther van Fenema.
According to the psychiatrist, animal abuse can be a “worrying sign of behavioral problems in children” which must be thoroughly investigated.
“If you kill an animal in the house; explain to the child why. Even if it’s an insect. So that he learns that you should not twist the neck of a guinea pig, which is harmful,” she added.