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Bird Murder

Flamingos Decapitated in Frankfurt Zoo

In a grisly murder case, merciless killers have slain four flamingos in Frankfurt Zoo. The unknown assassins struck during the night, decapitating three of the birds and strangling a fourth to death.

A grisly murder case has shocked staff at Frankfurt Zoo. Keepers found the bodies of four murdered flamingos in their pen on Tuesday morning.

Three of the birds were decapitated while a fourth was strangled to death, police said Tuesday. The four birds were all over 30 years old.

"We cannot explain why someone would want to murder flamingos," zoo spokeswoman Caroline Liefke told the news agency Reuters. "It's a complete mystery." The assassins snuck into the zoo between 9 p.m. on Monday evening and 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning, the zoo said.

Authorities are investigating how the killers managed to get into the zoo after it had closed and break into the flamingo's enclosure.

Death is no stranger to Germany's zoos. Recent tragic incidents include the case of the Erfurt zookeepers who killed their charges and sold the meat, the Berlin Zoo panda who died of constipation, and the Chemnitz Zoo keeper who was slain by a leopard.

dgs/reuters/dpa