High school football
Five football players in Columbia County have been cited for killing animals Getty

Five US high school football players in Pennsylvania have been accused of killing animals and posting pictures of their bodies online. The five teens have been cited after allegedly killing the wild animals with baseball bats before posting the images on Instagram.

Four of the five suspects; Blake Marks, Austin Knepp, Gabe Delbo, and Nick Becker, played US football for the title-winning Southern Columbia Tigers, reported WNEP.

Mark Kitchen, a football player from Danville, is reported to be the fifth teen cited. All five risk a fine when they appear in court.

The animals the players are accused of killing include a snake, raccoon, frogs, opossums, and pigeons.

Jim Roth, the head football coach at Southern Columbia, told WNEP: "Some kids that are good kids, college bound. Never has any trouble with the law, trouble in school, made a bad decision. "Some of these kids are not even aware of all the laws as far as small animals."

Local resident Matt Mindler however had a different view: "I just don't think it's right there's no reason to be going around and beating innocent animals and killing them. I just don't think it's right."