About 15 peacocks died after eating crops on which poisonous pesticides were sprayed, a forest officer said here today.
The incident came to light on Wednesday morning when farmers noticed the dead peacocks, he said.
The incident occurred at Karshakanagar area on Tuesday night in the outskirts of the district's Cherial mandal and forest officers initially suspected involvement of poachers.
However, later they confirmed that the peacocks died after eating standing crops on which poisonous pesticides were sprayed in the farm.
According to Jangaon sub divisional forest officer Sayed Hussain, Karshakanagar's farmers had sprayed pesticide on their crops to protect them from insects, but unfortunately, a group of peacocks ate the crops and died.
Later, stray dogs and other animals ate the peacocks and dragged them around, while some students also tried to take away feathers of the dead peacocks, he said.
However, the forest staff controlled the villagers and buried the peacocks in the farm after conducting panchanama, he said.
