Authorities say two California law students were arrested in Las Vegas Friday morning after reportedly decapitating an exotic bird at the Flamingo hotel’s Wildlife Habitat.
According to ABC News, Eric Cuellar and Justin Teixeira, both 24 and claimed students at University of California-Berkeley, were jailed on charges of suspicion of conspiracy and willful malicious killing of wildlife — now a felony under Nevada’s recently updated animal rights laws.
Police say surveillance video captured the two men executing the rare bird — a helmeted guinea fowl — with no remorse whatsoever.
“According to the security people, the men were laughing and joking about the fact of what they had done,” Sgt. John Sheahan of Metro Police told KLAS-TV. “Security had allegedly seen these men chasing the bird into a brushy treed area of that habitat and then coming out of that area with the bird in two pieces.”
Following their arrest, authorities say Cuellar and Teixeira were booked into the Clark County Detention Center but refused to speak with officers regarding their crime.
Police say they don’t believe drugs were involved.
The NY Daily News notes that in addition to the helmeted guineafowl, the Flamingo’s Wildlife Habitat is home to hundreds of animals, including swans, ducks, turtles and of course, flamingos.
All of the “animals are tended by experts and live on islands and streams surrounded by sparkling waterfalls and lush foliage,” according to the Flamingo’s website.
KLAS-TV has more on Eric Cuellar and Justin Teixeira’s heinous bird decapitation in the video below: