Police are investigating whether similar incidents at farms in Clinton and China are related. In each case, cows were set free from their pens.

Centralmaine.com reports the China vandalism was reported just after 9:00 Tuesday morning to the Kennebec County Sheriff's Office. Someone had opened pens at a farm on the Stanley Hill Road. The farmer told deputies that he discovered some of his cows had been released, one lock was missing, and another was broken. Deputy Aaron Moody said he couldn't remember how many cows were let loose, but it wasn't as many as in Clinton.

In that case, hundreds of cows were released from their pens in two incidents that occurred during one overnight. Vandals also turned off a stainless steel cooling tank that could have resulted in $10,000 in damages, if it hadn't been discovered. A BB gun was stolen at the Misty Meadows Farm in Clinton, where the cows were released, and police believe it may have been used to shoot out street lights at another farm in that town.

The FBI notified Clinton Police and asked whether they thought it might be extreme environmentalist or animal rights activists, but police told them they believe the vandals are juveniles. Even so, officials say they had to have some knowledge of dairy farms to have known how to shut off the cooling tank.

Police in Clinton and China are working together to determine whether the farm vandalism cases are related.

More From WQCB Brewer Maine