Mandy McLaren | Courier Journal

Students at a Louisville high school are criticizing their principal's response to a senior prank, saying his reaction to chickens being let loose in the school should be considered animal abuse.

A video posted to Twitter on Thursday afternoon showed Atherton High School Principal Thomas Aberli and two other staff members cornering one of the chickens in an outdoor courtyard in an attempt to catch the animal.

The video was posted on Twitter, and a student sent the video to the Courier Journal. The tweet has since been deleted.

This high school’s principal kicked a chicken this morning. #Atherton pic.twitter.com/hVE1bwQjpc — Anonymous Burner (@PlayoffBurner) May 30, 2019

Aberli then appeared to forcefully kick the chicken two times, as students inside the building watched.

"Oh my gosh, he just kicked that chicken!" one student can be heard yelling.

Students took to social media to criticize Aberli's actions.

“We believe that the chicken ended up in the courtyard at Atherton as part of a senior prank and the principal was trying to catch the chicken," said Jefferson County Public Schools spokeswoman Renee Murphy.

In total, three chickens were released in the school.

Murphy said the chickens were not hurt and were released behind the school building.

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After this story was first published on Thursday, several Atherton students and one staff member contacted the Courier Journal and alleged that one of the chickens was killed.

Ozzy Gibson, director of Louisville Metro Animal Services, said Friday his agency responded to the school and did not find a dead chicken.

"When my guy got there, the two were still there and we took the two they had,” he said.

Gibson questioned whether Aberli kicked one of the chickens.

“I don’t see feathers flying. I’ve yet to confirm he kicked the chicken," Gibson said, referring to the video.

Gibson said animal services will keep the two chickens for about a week and then foster them.

JCPS did not respond to a question on Friday asking what happened to the third chicken.

Reporter Darcy Costello contributed to this story.

I’m an Atherton Highschool student. I really feel like people need to be aware of the situation going on here. As senior prank, chickens were let out in the courtyard. Instead of capturing them and handing them to teachers who have chickens themselves for the time being, or — Deformed Smiles (@DeformedSmiles) May 30, 2019

Calling animal control so they had a chance, OUR PRINCIPAL threatened to throw them away. He kicked one chicken twice. Then let them out in the football field and now they’re gone. I understand yes that prank shouldn’t have happened but it MOST CERTAINLY should not have been — Deformed Smiles (@DeformedSmiles) May 30, 2019

Mandy McLaren: 502-582-4525; mmclaren@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @mandy_mclaren. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/mandym.