RAMANATHAPURAM
Ramanathapuram Forest Range officials have arrested a farmer on a charge of poisoning a dozen peafowl to death after the birds destroyed paddy crop in his fields at Mudunal village near here.
On being alerted that peafowl were found dead in paddy fields, forest personnel, led by Range Officer S. Sathish, visited the village on Monday and found many peafowl dead.
After preliminary investigation, the officials arrested the farmer, T. Gopi, 48, under the Wildlife Protection Act for poisoning the peafowl, protected under Schedule I (Part III) of the Act, Mr. Sathish said.
The farmer had allegedly mixed an insecticide with foodgrains and kept them at different places in the fields. During interrogation, he claimed that he kept the insecticide-mixed foodgrains to kill rats, which destroyed the crop, but the forest personnel refused to buy the theory.
After Saradha, Assistant Veterinary Surgeon, conducted a post-mortem, the dead birds were buried near a field. Samples of the insecticide-mixed foodgrains and some parts removed from the carcasses were sent to District Forensic Sciences Laboratory for analysis, Mr. Sathish said.
