COIMBATORE: As many as 40 goats died after they drank water mixed with fertilisers at a banana grove in Kalimangalam village near Thondamuthur on Monday evening. The goat owners said they had lost their livelihood and incurred a loss of a few lakhs due to the incident.
Sources said the goats belonged to four tribal women Savithiri, Vijaya, Kannamma and Mangalam of the Kalimangalam settlement. After grazing along the foothills of the Western Ghats, the goats and the owners were passing through a banana plantation in the same village.
The goats drank water which was flowing through the irrigation channels and some of them fell dropped dead and others fell ill, sources added.
The women informed the local veterinarian, who conducted a postmortem on the dead goats. He confirmed that the animals had died due to drinking water mixed with fertilisers, sources said.
"We do not suspect any foul play in the incident, as we are aware the owner mixed fertilisers to prevent the plantation from dying during summer. We have decided to sell the goats within the next few months as we are dependent only on goat-rearing. However, we have lost our livelihood and the state government should take steps to provide compensation or issue free goats," said one of the owners.