COIMBATORE: As many as 40 goats died after consuming fertilizer mixed with water on a plantain farm in Coimbatore on Monday.

Four women, Savithri, Vijaya, Mangalam and Kannamma, all hailing from Kalimangalam tribal village in Alandurai Town Panchayat near Thondamuthur, had taken their goats for grazing along the foothills of the Western Ghats.

On their return, the goats consumed water discharged to a plantain farm. Unfortunately, the goats began to collapse one by one. It then came to light that the goats had died as they consumed water, which was mixed with chemical fertilizer meant for plantains.

Officials of the Animal Husbandry department carried out a post-mortem, and the carcasses were buried.

Meanwhile, the livestock owners demanded that the state government compensate them, as they have lost their only source of livelihood.