"Botched frat pranks kills 2 flamingos" AP October 10, 2014
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — A Mississippi college student has been arrested after bungled prank led to the deaths of two Chilean flamingos at the Hattiesburg Zoo, police say.
Lieutenant Jon Traxler, a Hattiesburg police spokesman, says Devin Nottis, 19, of Pascagoula is charged with grand larceny. The University of Southern Mississippi student was arrested Wednesday night.
Police say that during a fraternity scavenger hunt, Nottis took a flamingo instead of taking a picture of the bird.
The executive director of the organization that runs the Hattiesburg Zoo says a female bird was taken at 1:08 a.m. Tuesday and found later that morning, several miles away. Rick Taylor says it was returned to the zoo and had to be euthanized because of its injuries.
Taylor said a second flamingo was injured in the episode and died Wednesday.
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