By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

GREEN TWP. - Marc Hill came home to a horrifying sight last week. More than 20 of his racing pigeons had been brutally killed Tuesday inside an unlocked pigeon coop in his backyard.

Some of the birds were stacked in a corner of the coop and appeared to have been shot with an air gun. The remainder had their heads crushed, according to a police report.

"It was a pretty callous act," Hamilton County SPCA General Manager Harold Dates said.

It wasn't certain Sunday how many birds were killed; a Green Township police report said 27; Hamilton County SPCA officials said it was 23. Mr. Hill did not return calls for comment Sunday.

The incident, which occurred sometime Tuesday between 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. in the 5300 block of Sanrio Court, is classified as cruelty to animals. No arrests have been made and there is no known motive.

The pigeons have been turned over to the Hamilton County SPCA to determine cause of death, which could be known as early as this week.

The Hamilton County SPCA is investigating the case with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.

"We would like to find out who did this because someone callous enough to stand in that coop and methodically kill 23 birds, one at a time, would either do it again or escalate to perhaps other creatures," Mr. Dates said. "They start out with something pretty vulnerable and if they get away with it, they have the tendency to repeat that particular behavior. We don't want to see that happen."

The pigeons are valued at $1,500.

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com.