Teens charged with setting fire to chicken

HUDSON - Criminal charges have been filed against two Bay Port High School students accused of setting a live chicken on fire.

Ryan D. McElmurry and Hayden J. Lammers, both 17, made initial appearances Thursday in St. Croix County Circuit Court on one count each of mistreating animals, according to a criminal complaint.

A criminal complaint states the teens, both from Suamico, were at a fellow student's father's farm near Hudson, in western Wisconsin, with four others when they recorded themselves setting the chicken on fire. They later posted the video on social media.

An anonymous tip led the Brown County Sheriff's Department to the eight second video. The investigation was referred to the St. Croix County Sheriff's Department. In the video, the chicken is pushed down to the ground with a long stick and is set on fire with a pre-lit piece of paper. The video shows the chicken engulfed in flames before it runs off camera.

The teens told authorities the owner of the farm asked them to cull a rooster from his hen house, using an ax to chop off its head. For unknown reasons they instead decided to light the chicken on fire. The chicken didn't die from the fire, however, so one of the boys eventually killed it with an ax.

The complaint states McElmurry admitted to authorities he held the chicken down and Lammers admitted to lighting the chicken on fire.

Charges were dismissed against a 17-year-old who admitted pouring gasoline on the chicken.

The other people involved are minors who are not identified in court records.

If convicted, McElmurry and Lammers face up to a $10,000 fine and nine months in jail.

sleduc@greenbay.gannett.com 'Like' Shelby Le Duc on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @pgshelbyleduc