Animals, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Fowl Play: Police Chief Responds To Failure Of Family To Remove Chickens By Decapitating Boy’s Pet Hen And Leaving Head Near Coop

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In a case that has some disturbing comparisons to the Bolger case out of Baltimore, a police chief in Atwater, Minnesota is accused of killing a boy’s pet chicken and then leaving the hen’s decapitated head near the chicken coop. Police Chief Trevor Berger was reportedly responding to a violation of the city ordinance prohibiting fowl and the failure of the Turnbull’s to comply with the order to get rid of three chickens and two ducks. However, like Bolger (who sit a dog’s throat), Berger is accused of taking horrific actions in response to a minor violation. Berger has since apologized by saying that he did not know it was a pet, but that still leaves the question of why an officer would decapitate animals and leave their heads on the ground in response to a municipal violation.


Turnbull’s fiancé, Chris Gordon, said that Berger was less contrite when the family called and asked him if he came to their home and killed their pet. He said that Berger responded with “Yup. Any questions?” Berger later also said that the uproar was about nothing and “most of the people think it’s rather silly” when “there’s such uproar about a chicken.”

The hen was given as a present to Phoenix Turnbull, 5, on his birthday.

Berger appears to view a proper response as including clubbing a small red hen with a shovel and decapitating it. He said that he was trying to respond to the complaints of a “frustrated” neighbor about the chickens running loose. Turnbull’s neighbor, Dick Rierson, brought pictures of Turnbull’s muddy poultry pen to the August city council meeting and later said that he objected to chicken living “in filth like that” and that such conditions could attract rats.

Berger said that he had to try for roughly ten minutes to catch the hen. After getting the other fowl into the cage, he “dispatched” the chicken in order to show Rierson “some results.” He said that he decided not to use his gun because children were playing nearby.

Berger insisted that his actions were legal.

Berger at the time said “I’m sorry it had to happen that way” and that leaving the severed head was really not meant to send a message. He thought it was still attached to the body when he took the carcass. However, it did not “have to happen” at all. I was not aware of police carrying out impromptu executions when a family has been notified of a violation.

Berger was asked earlier this year to present a proposed ordinance to allow chickens in the city. It will be presented at the meeting where this incident is to be discussed.

As for the neighbor, Rierson is quoted as saying that, if killing the chicken was the only way for the police chief to address the problem, “then I’d say he’s doing his job.”

I suppose that the family should be thankful that Rierson did not complain about truant or trespassing children.

Source: Twin Cities
Kudos: Michael Blott

91 thoughts on “Fowl Play: Police Chief Responds To Failure Of Family To Remove Chickens By Decapitating Boy’s Pet Hen And Leaving Head Near Coop”

  1. There is a belief that is gaining some ground in the world of public servants and other celebrities which goes something like this. Do what ever you want no matter how wrong and or illegal and the apologize. Everything will be alright. This “police chief” needs to be made UN employed.

  2. Bailers, I most certainly have been to Madison. I have many friends and family that live in and work Madison, some work in Madison businesses and State government. I’m in Madison at least once a week.

  3. DBQ OBVIOUSLY knows a lot on this subject. She states it was absolutely wrong for this cop to do what he did. However, she shared her knowledge about what can occur w/ chickens. She did not say IN ANY MANNER that is what was the conditions here, just that keeping chickens is not like “keeping parakeets.” They require proper handling, feeding, etc. DBQ is a great addition, another woman who doesn’t just FEEEEL, she also thinks.

    1. Bailers – Phoenix allows chickens in some areas and livestock in others. We had two horses and a cow on our place in Phoenix.

  6. The igPay lives somewhere and he has neighbors. Hopefully a neighbor or someone who knows where igPay lives will get even. Dogpoop in the yard is not enough and a schmuck like that would shoot the dog. Kids need to get even for the younger kids. You can take six long nails and drive them into a piece of plywood and then situate the board up on the top of the guys tires. When he moves the car they roll around and puncture the tires. Two tires at least. If he has a sidewalk or curb mailbox then fill it with huge turds. Put the flag up. Post a sign in his yard to identify him as the chicken killer. Post his photo on the internet.

  7. I don’t know how anyone would know the state of the chicken yard or coop. How do we know it was unclean, just because the child considered one of the chickens a pet? Is there some evidence that the yard was inspected by health officials and deemed unsafe?

  8. Trespassing, destruction of private property, cruelty to animals, case closed. But you know he will probably get off scott-free. Who’s going to file charges and prosecute? It’s all part of a much more pervasive problem with the whole criminal justice system.

  11. @ Squeeky

    In a residential area (lots of an acre or less) they are noisy, especially roosters. They attract predators like foxes, coyotes, cats and roaming dogs. If the birds are being fed kitchen/vegetable scraps they attract vermin from rotting vegetable matter if not cleaned up in a timely manner. Unless the owners are very diligent about hygiene and cleanliness, the area will stink to high heaven and if not in a chicken coop or fenced in area the birds wander around and poop everywhere, even in the neighbor’s yards and gardens, since chickens don’t know squat about fences or property lines.

    The chicken coop needs to be disinfected often to prevent diseases from spreading and keep it from smelling. If the droppings IN the fenced in area are not removed in a timely manner and properly composted (which eventually makes good fertilizer), flies will accumulate and annoy the neighborhood. Bird lice and other parasites can spread. Grain, improperly stored, will attract mice, rats, squirrels and other pesty rodents who have fleas and often, in our area, carry Bubonic Plague or Hantavirus.

    Many people who view chickens and ducks (which are even worse for the stink factor) as family pets instead of the livestock/farm animals that they are…..have no idea how to properly care for fowl and when they find out how much hard dirty nasty work it really is, they don’t do it and you end up with all the problems above.

    If you live out in the country, as I do, no one cares. If you live next door to me….I would object too.

    1. DBQ – there was no indication that the place was a health hazard except for the annoyed neighbor.

  13. randyjet,
    While the owners of the chickens may have been in violation of the law in keeping the chickens, the officer has no unilateral authority to kill any of them, unless there is a danger to humans. Darren is correct that he would have to have court authorization to remove them, not kill any of them.

    1. At least the chief went to the home and apologized. He did man up over this.

  16. randyjet, generally people are entitled to due process before their property is removed or destroyed by the state. While the amount of process due varies, there would not appear to be such an imminent threat here that some sort of pre-deprivation process could not reasonably be provided.

  17. dusty, The FACT is that the cop did not pull out his knife and cut the head off. He DID corral the others, but could not grab the one chicken and put it up as he had done with the others. The owners were not at home obviously, so he used the shovel to stop it and it resulted in killing the chicken. From all these FACTS, I can see no depraved indifference on the cops part. There is no legal or common sense violation on the part of this cop.

    Some of the posters on this site show more deranged thinking than the cop when they compare a child to a chicken and think that they are of equal weight in terms of life and “rights”.

    1. randyjet – I think the law on pets needs to change. They are not chattel as they are now considered. We know that many people consider their pets to be their children and even will them money. I personally think that pets should be given rights. I do not pass these same rights on to livestock raised for food.

  18. The chicken owner did not comply to the verbal notice because the city council was going to discuss allowing chickens at the next meeting two weeks later. Death by bullet or shovel was the only answer? It appears the sheriff did not like a citizen ignoring his warning. Property was taken without so much as a note on the door.( he says he forgot) Speaking of which….what happened to the dead chicken? What if there was conversion to personal use…dinner.

  19. I think the main issue is the depraved killing of the chickens. Were they illegal in that neighborhood?. Yes. Did they need to be removed?. Yes. Did they receive an order and a deadline to remove the chickens/pets?. Maybe, the article wasn’t clear to me on that point..

    What would be the logical and humane way to solve the situation? Capture the chickens and transport them to an area/farm where they were not illegal. The illogical and cruel way? Decapitate them and leave the dead bodies scattered about for the owner and the child to find. Cruel and needless.

    Again: lack of empathy for animals=lack of empathy for humans. Classic sociopath behavior.

    There really should be a more strenuous mental screening BEFORE becoming a police officer and frequent updates to see how the officer is acting or behaving. Not all cops are mental cases, but……many are because the profession draws those who have “issues” with power, control and borderline mental problems, psychopathy that they can use in their career and not generally be caught.

  20. @randyjet “The FACT is that the birds MUST GO and if the owners refuse to obey, what other options does a single cop have under those circumstances?”

    I don’t know….get a court order to have the animals removed? I just don’t buy Berger’s contention that he didn’t know he left the head. Did he even have a warrant to go on the property?

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