Reports of cows being released at farms in China are under investigation by the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, which is also probing whether the incidents are related acts of vandalism that occurred in Clinton last week.

Authorities have not announced the cause of the death of 45-year-old Michael T. Young, who was serving a 12-year sentence for a stabbing death.

A cow broke its neck and died last week after vandals let it and hundreds of other cows out of their pens at the Misty Meadow Farm and also vandalized the Wright Place Farm, police said.