MADURAI: There has been a decrease in the population of peafowls in the district in the last few years, owing to various reasons. Though the Forest Department has no official records to show the exact population of the bird, it was found that around 146 peafowls were killed in the last four years.
Sources say 16 peafowls were killed in 2015, 42 in 2016, 25 in 2017 and 63 in 2018 (till date).
On condition of anonymity, a forest official said that the cause of death of the 146 peafowls has been different, ranging from stray dog bites and electrocution to accidents. Admitting that no scientific methods are currently available in the State to calculate the population of the national bird, he said that the calculation of the exact number for this kind of bird is difficult.
On the third day, following the killing of 34 peafowls and nine peacocks, at Golden City area in T Kunnathur on Saturday morning, forest officials were still working on tracing the miscreants behind the mass killing.
The post-mortem report said that high level of ‘organophosphorus’ pesticides were found in tissues of birds. “Department believes that the birds were purposely poisoned by a person, who is yet to be identified,” said an official.