Primary school child strangles over a dozen animals to death on trip to petting zoo

A primary school child strangled several animals to death during a lone trip to a zoo leaving police and parents seriously concerned.

Reportedly the nine-year-old boy is said to have shown “no emotion” after he carried out the brutal killing spree at the Rekerhout petting zoo in Alkmaar, Netherlands.

The boy, who is said to have previously visited the venue under supervision, travelled by himself and killed up to nine rabbits and two guinea pigs in the late afternoon on March 11 reports the Mirror.

He is said to have strangled most of them to death with no apparent motive. The incident, which took place in the town of Hoek van Holland, stunned zoo staff who felt nauseous afterwards.

Police caught the schoolboy, and his parents turned up at the scene.

Manager Ali Dorenbos told De Telegraaf: “It makes you completely sick!” Recalling a previous animal abuse incident, she added: “The sheep were shot with bows and arrows, their udders were pulled, and the goats were shaken by their horns.’

Experts have since weighed in on the attack and warned that animal abuse can be a “worrying sign of behavioural disorder in children”.

Specialist Anne-Marie Le Buhan of the Het Geitenweitje Foundation in Laren, commented: “Horrible. How? This is very extreme. And was there no supervision?”