Two 12-year-old boys climbed over the fence Friday evening into the pen where eight kangaroos lived at the zoo, a spokeswoman with the Rostov regional branch of the Interior Ministry said by telephone.
The boys proceeded to beat a young kangaroo to death with sticks while a 10-year-old girl acted as a lookout, investigators said.
They also threw stones into a building where sea gulls are kept, killing three and severely injuring three others, police said. The children have admitted to the crimes, the regional Interior Ministry said in a statement on its web site.
The remaining seven kangaroos are in a state of "deep psychological stress," police cited a zoo employee as saying. The police spokeswoman could not say whether the attack had taken place during the zoo's working hours.
 Rostov Police Two children, top, being interviewed for killing a kangaroo at a regional zoo. |  |
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The girl is the sister of one of the boys, while the other boy has been expelled from school and will be sent to a school for children with learning disabilities, police said.
The children have been returned to their parents, who could be fined up to 80,000 rubles ($3,000) if a court finds the children guilty of animal cruelty, the police spokeswoman said. No date has been set for a court hearing.
It was not the first time that kangaroos have been terrorized at the Rostov-on-Don zoo with tragic results. Ten years ago attack dogs were sicked on the kangaroos, killing all eight of them living there at the time, the regional Interior Ministry said.
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