Chinese man jailed for scaring 1,100 chickens to death amid a feud with his neighbor, report says

• A man in China has been jailed for scaring 1,100 chickens to death.
• The man, identified as "Gu," scared the chickens with a flashlight, causing them to die in a crush.

A man in China has been sentenced to prison after he was found guilty of scaring about 1,100 chickens to death amid a feud with his neighbor, a report said.

The man, who Chinese state media only identified by his surname, "Gu," snuck onto his neighbor, Zhong's, chicken farm and caused hundreds of his chickens to die by using a flashlight to make them panic, China Daily reported.

The pair's feud began in April 2022 when Gu cut down Zhong's trees without his permission and Zhong's wife then towed the trees away, angering Gu.

One night, Gu snuck onto Zhong's property and caused his chickens to panic by shining the flashlight on them, which resulted in 500 chickens fleeing into a corner and dying from the resulting crush.

Officers apprehended Gu and ordered him to compensate Zhong with 3,000 yuan, or about $436, but this did not deter him.

Gu returned to Zhong's property a second time and caused 640 more chickens to die in the same way.

Chinese authorities estimated that the roughly 1,100 dead chickens were worth about 13,840 yuan, or about $2,015, and a court in Hengyang County, in central China's Hunan province, ruled on Tuesday that Gu had intentionally caused property loss to Zhong, China Daily reported.

Gu has been sentenced to six months in prison and one year of probation. The sentence takes into account the remorse Gu has shown for his crimes.