Urban Roots in St. Paul cry fowl play after chickens stolen from coop
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Raised from hatchlings, the interns at Urban Roots were more than attached to their six laying hens.
"I chose specifically what chickens we wanted to take and their were so small it was like you could hold them in one hand and they were so cute," said Adora Thao.
"I remember them being like so feisty so curious they would like follow each other and bite each others feet it was so cute," said Nana Vang.
But these young people were devastated when they arrived the first day of their summer internship, to find all six hens missing.
"Its so heartbreaking to see our chickens stolen after all of the hard work of keeping them," Thao said.
They were kept in a coop until late Tuesday night -- that's when the camera that kept watch over the hens went dark, and when staff went to check on them.
"The door was wide open and there was a crowbar which we removed at this point and they used the crowbar to pry open the lock," Hayley Ball, Executive Director at Urban Roots, said. "They also covered our camera that we use to watch the chickens go in to their automatic door each evening.so we were able to see who took them."
The chickens were used in Urban Root's cook fresh program, where interns learn about cooking and cultural tradition, creating dishes to feed community from their eggs.
"Why would they do that it sounded so planned out the way they knew the camera was there the way they knew where the doors were it was like they knew we had chickens and they were scouting it the whole time and we didnt even know which is so sad," Thao said.
These teens say they'll never forget the chickens they named, cared for and grew to love, and they hope the person responsible for taking them has a change of heart and returns them.
Urban Roots is installing new cameras, a fence, and re-enforcing the coop.
Police and the interns continue to search for the missing chickens.