A total of 10 members of the Delta Mu Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity at the University of Southern Mississippi have been arrested or indicted after an initiation ritual went horribly wrong. The pledges were tasked with bringing back a picture of a flamingo as part of a scavenger hunt, but instead tried to bring back an entire bird they stole from the Hattiesburg Zoo. That alone is awful, as this specific breed of flamingo mates with one other for life. These birds bond male-female, and spend their entire lives together. So just in the stealing of this flamingo they separated her from her husband that she’s been with her entire life. Now let’s get to the gruesome parts.
Another flamingo in the Hattiesburg Zoo flamingo exhibit attempted to defend the bird stolen by these 10 frat daddies from Southern Miss, and died the every next day due to the injuries sustained while trying to defend his mate, his counterpart, his other half. Then the female flamingo stolen by these PIKE’s that was later abandoned was found a few miles from the zoo, and had to be euthanized due to the injuries she sustained when these dudes took it upon themselves to break into the exhibit and steal the bird.
According to the UK’s Daily Mail, this week six more suspects were taken into custody:
Devin Nottis, 19, of Pascagoula, was arrested in October, charged with grand larceny and served in April after footage showed him taking the bird.
The six suspects are Tyler Branch, 21, and Addonis Harris, 20, both from Pascagoula, Richard Colton Coletta, 21, Alec Newton, 20, and Bobby Scott, 18, from Gautier, and Cole Mitchell, 23, Hattiesburg.
The executive director of the organization that runs the Hattiesburg Zoo says a female bird was taken at 1.08am on Tuesday and found later that morning, several miles away.The zoo posted surveillance footage from the park on its Facebook page on Tuesday with an appeal for anyone with information to come forward.
The message said: ‘An eye witness also saw a group of people scaling the Zoo fence around the same time last night, carrying what appeared to be a large bird.’
The zoo said that the death of the female flamingo cut its ability to breed more of the exotic birds by 25 per cent.
In a statement to MailOnline, The University of Southern Mississippi said it had indefinitely suspended the Delta Mu Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity (PIKE) at the school.
Notts has also been placed on interim suspension by the University.
During that suspension, the 19-year-old is barred from being on the university campus for any reason other than to go to the Dean’s office.
‘The University is taking swift and appropriate action in response to this incident,’ said Southern Miss Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Joe Paul.
‘This is a terrible and heinous act that has occurred, and inconsistent with the values of our institution.’
Kids do stupid shit, and one prank gone horribly wrong shouldn’t be the end of their collegiate lives. Maybe instead of suspending these kids indefinitely they should educate them on just why this was so f*cking stupid in the first place. Have these dudes bang out community service at the Hattiesburg Zoo, so they can then in turn spread the word on why this was a miserable display of judgment and they can learn from the experience.
Obviously something needed to be done, but I hope that they use discretion when handing down the final punishments, as this shouldn’t stick with them forever….Right? You bros agree with me on this, no? Or should they be kicked out of school? Answers down below in the comments.