As many as 97 sheep and goats died at Huyilalu village, near Mysore, on Monday night owing to suspected overdose while administering medicine, according to information received here on Tuesday.
Belonging to nomads
The sheep and goats belonged to five nomadic families, who owned more than 1,500 sheep and goats. The families move all over the State as well as Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in search of grazing land.
They had been in Huyilalu village since the last month, Huyilalu Ramaswamy, a member of the Huyilalu Gram Panchayat, told The Hindu .
The families had come from Honnenahalli in Sira of Tumkur district one month ago, Mr. Ramaswamy said. The shepherds, Ramakrishna, Puttamma and Nagaraju, had administered medicine to the sheep and goats, but 97 of them died soon afterwards, he said. Veterinary surgeons conducted post-mortem. The report is yet to be received.
Mahadeva, a resident of Huyilalu, said the medicine could be administered only if the animal weighed more than 15 kg, but in this case even young ones were given medicines. A particular strip was found to be expired as well, he said.
A.H. Vishwanath, MP, and M. Satyanarayana, Chamundeshwari MLA, visited the spot on Tuesday. Mr. Vishwanath said he would seek compensation for the herders from the State government.
