More than 2,000 migratory ducks died after eating poisoned rice seeds on farmland in the north-east Colombian department of Cesar, reports Caracol Radio.
“This is a criminal act, because they [farmers ]used a poisoned seed,” said Ramon Galvis, a representative from the Municipal Unit for Agricultura Technical Assistance (Umata).
The toxic seed was found in places where the ducks, who migrate every year from Canada, are known to feed. Galvis did not rule out the number of ducks poisoned to death may be higher than estimated.
This is not the first time that migratory ducks have been poisoned by farmers, who sell the birds for their meat.
In 2006, 5,000 ducks of the same species were found poisoned in the north Caribbean department of Sucre, and the following year 3,000 were killed in the same way in Cesar.