More than 20 dogs were found dead Monday at a village near here from suspected poisoning, police said.
Police said the dogs in Karasangal village had been given meat mixed with some pesticide Sunday night allegedly by cattle rustlers because the animals alerted owners and put a check on such incidents.
They said for past one year there were frequent complaints of cattle thefts, forcing villagers to rear pet dogs and also feed street dogs.
With the dogs keeping vigil, incidents of cattle theft came down substantially during the last one month, they claimed.