Members of the Kongu Nadu Munnetra Kazhagam (KNMK) and farmers observed a fast for a short period in Perundurai near here on Saturday urging the forest department to initiate measures to control peacock menace. Police arrested the agitators as they had not obtained permission for observing the fast.
The KNMK organised the protest following the arrest of a farmer for reportedly poisoning 15 peacocks in his field in Pattakaranpalayam Village near Perundurai a few days ago. KNMK members claimed that the poisonous substance was actually meant for the rats that had destroyed the crops in the field. But the peacocks consumed it and died.
The party members condemned the arrest of the farmer for the mass death of the peacocks. They wanted the forest department to catch the birds and leave them in the forest area.The National bird continues to be the farmers' woe in many parts of the district as they destroy the crops.
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