COIMBATORE: Eight sheep and a dog were killed in Coimbatore on Friday morning, after a speeding car collided into the herd on Thanneerpandhal-Vilankurichi Road. Twelve sheep and a shepherd were also injured.
The incident occurred at 3 am on the wee hours of Friday. The driver fled from the crime scene without responding to the mishap. The Traffic Investigation Wing (TIW- East) police of Coimbatore city formed a team to trace the car and driver.
Police sources said, P Subramaniam (47) of Pappampatti in Coimbatore district was rearing 500 sheep. S Ravichandran (60) of Neikkaranpatti near Palani, was working under Subramaniam as a shepherd. Ravichandran and four other shepherds took the sheep to Athipalayam from Pappampatti for grazing on Friday morning.
At around 3 am, when the flock was at Kalaivani Nagar on Thanneerpandhal-Vilankurichi Road, a speeding car hit the herd and killed eight of the sheep and an escort dog on the spot. 12 of the sheep sustained severe injuries. The car also hit Ravichandran, who was admitted to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), said police sources.
The TIW police arranged for a postmortem on the sheep and dog. The injured sheep were sent to a nearby veterinary hospital. Police booked a case for further investigation.
Police sources said the herd was hit by a white Sports Utility Vehicle. While checking CCTV footage, the registration number of the vehicle was not visible, as there was poor visibility due to the rain.