PITTSBURGH -- The search is on for the people behind a possible case of animal cruelty.

Officials at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh are trying to determine how spray-painted chickens got into various campus buildings and whether the incident was a fraternity prank or something else.

Beth McMaster, a wildlife rehabilitator, has been caring for nine birds removed from campus buildings beginning on Saturday. She says one bird was spray-painted pink, another with purple paint, and others with yellow.

"I think somebody thought it was a joke and it isn't funny at all. Whoever did this needs to pay the price for what they've done. This is animal cruelty," McMaster said.

McMaster is caring for the birds on her Butler County farm. She was asked to take them in after they were found roaming CMU's campus, some not far from a group of fraternity houses.

Carnegie Mellon officials said in a statement that students are cooperating with the university's efforts "to understand what happened on Saturday, when farm chickens were found in campus buildings." Any disciplinary action will be handled through the school's internal judicial process.

"The university does not condone the spray painting of these chickens and, in fact, the university made the shelter arrangements for the chickens. We continue to look into the matter," a spokesman for the university told Channel 4 Action News.

One bird was found in a student center, another in a racquetball court.

McMaster said the chickens are thin and some are sick with respiratory infections. She said she plans to nurture them, feed them and house them, but there is little she can do with the paint on their feathers

"If we used a solvent to remove it, which is what we would have to use to remove an oil-based paint, it would be worse on the hens than just leaving the paint and hoping they don't ingest any," McMaster said. "It's just on their feathers. But if there's any lead in the paint and they ingest any of that, that will be fatal."

McMaster plans to keep the chickens on her farm for good, but she is working with police to find out who painted them and to make sure they're prosecuted.

"It's not right. These are animals and it might have been worse," McMaster said.

Anyone with information in the case is asked to call Carnegie Mellon University Police.

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