Krishnagar, Nov. 4: Thirty stray dogs that were fed dead chicken by a poultry owner in Nadia have died, sparking allegations that they were poisoned.

The entire population of stray dogs at Deypara, on the outskirts of Krishnagar, has allegedly been wiped out as villagers said none of them could be seen today.

Thirty dogs have been found dead. Searches are on for more.

Gheraoed by members of the local club, poultry owner Dilip Modak admitted that his chicken were often attacked by the dogs, but denied killing them.

“He said the dogs attacked his chicken and offered us Rs 10,000 to hush up the matter,” alleged Shyamal Ghosh, a member of the club, about 90km from Calcutta.

Dilip said about 50 birds out his stock of 2,600 chicks had died two days ago because of Coccidiosis — a parasi-tic disease of the intestinal tract. The disease spreads from animal to animal by contact with infected faeces.

“I served the dead chicken to the dogs, but I didn’t realise they would die,” said Dilip.

The animal resources development department in Nadia ruled out the possibility of the dogs dying because of eating the infected chicken. “Coccidiosis can’t kill a dog. Even if the chickens were infected by avian flu, the dogs would not have died so quickly,” said Amalendu Saha, its deputy director.

Saha said a probe team would go to the village tomorrow. “It appears the poultry owner had added some pesticide or insecticide to the dead birds,” he added.