A University of Louisville student is under investigation after posting a video on Instagram allegedly committing acts of animal cruelty.
The graphic video, posted on Instagram, showed the student torturing and killing live baby chicks, as reported by local news outlet WDRB.
'How to Make Fried Chicken'
The disturbing footage showed the student putting seasoning on the live chicks inside an air-fryer. In another clip, a bird appears to be dead inside the air-fryer.The video was captioned "How to make fried chicken."
A UofL student told WDRB she called police after seeing the videos. "It just gives you a grimy feeling like I feel wrong for being able to see it," said Sarah Devers, a UofL student. "
Rebecca Eaves, an animal rights advocate, believes it could lead to a bigger issue. "One thing that we always have to remember is there is a direct link from someone who will take innocent creatures and torture them," Eaves said. "There is a direct link to other forms of cruelty, and it will escalate."
Following the backlash, the student later claimed the chicks were actually robots programmed by him but viewers didn't buy his excuse. "Nice try trying to gaslight, I think anyone that has ever seen baby chicks before can tell that those are real living baby chicks," Devers said.
University of Louisville Releases Statement
The school in Louisville shared on Saturday afternoon that it was aware of an off-campus incident. UofL confirmed the social media accounts belong to a current student.
"The University of Louisville is aware of an off-campus incident regarding a UofL student and alleged acts of animal cruelty. While we can confirm the poster is a UofL student, he is not affiliated with the J.B. Speed School of Engineering," the university said in a follow-up statement posted on Tuesday.
"We take reports of occurences of this very seriously. After hearing about this off-campus incident, the UofL Police Department (ULPD), Dean of Students Office and other departments immediately shared information to determine what, if any, actions could be taken, " the statement continued.
"In addition the university has forwarded all information to the Louisville Metro Police Department, which is investigating the incident with support from ULPD.
In Kentucky, animal cruelty is generally a misdemeanor. In order to be considered a crime, the mistreatment must be cruel or result in the animal's injury.
