Several birds were found dead in Garalbari of Jalpaiguri district’s Sadar block on Tuesday.

It is suspected that they died after consuming pesticide when a local farmer, Majibul Haque, attempted to kill a neighbour’s chickens that were eating crop seeds on
his field.

Despite repeatedly informing the neighbour, the problem reportedly continued.

Aggrieved by the situation, Majibul allegedly mixed puffed rice with pesticide and scattered it across his field.

However, instead of the chickens, several other birds —sparrows, mynas and doves — ate the poisoned food and died.

Majibul reportedly admitted his actions to the members of the Jalpaiguri Animal and Nature Lovers’ Organisation, who were looking into the incident.

“What Majibul Haque did is completely wrong. He confessed to the incident and we have submitted a written complaint to the forest department,” said Pritam Das, president of the organisation.

Later on Tuesday, a team from the forest department recovered the bird carcasses.

“They have been sent for a post-mortem. We will initiate legal action against the accused once the reports reach us,” said a forester.