As many as nine cows died in the last three days after consuming contaminated food at Mattapally.
About 25 cows out of 62 were taken ill on Wednesday after consuming some poisonous food. The cows were housed in the shelter of a gaushala run by priest Krishnama Charya of Sri Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple in Mattapally.
The viscera of cows that had died were sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) by veterinarians. The temple priest said that the cows fell sick on Wednesday morning when they were taken to a local forest for grazing on Tuesday.
The locals alleged that some Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company had dumped industrial waste there a couple of months ago.
Just hours after that, the locals said that they cows started falling sick. Out of 25 that fell ill, nine had died during the past three days, and rest were being provided treatment. Joint Director of Animal Husbandry Dr. V. Shyam Mohan Rao told The Hindu they were waiting for the CFSL report to know the reason behind the deaths.