SL mulls sending 1L monkeys to China

COLOMBO: Cash-strapped Sri Lanka is exploring the possibility of exporting 1,00,000 endangered monkeys to China, one of its largest bilateral lenders, its Agriculture Minister said.

The toque macaque is endemic to Sri Lanka and is classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list.

Lankan Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has asked officials to study China’s request to procure toque macaques for its zoos, a news portal there reported. He said the request for 1,00,000 monkeys to be exhibited at over 1,000 Chinese zoos could be considered, given the large macaque population in the country, the report said.

Another news portal said the minister headed a discussion on dispatching the monkeys, in which officials from the Department of National Zoological Gardens, and the Department of Wildlife Conservation took part. The meeting was informed that the current monkey population in Lanka has reached nearly 3 million and the animals were a menace to local crops. The appointment of a committee to study the legal procedures for the programme was also discussed.

From banning almost all live animal exports, the country this year removed several species from its protected list, including all three of its monkey species as well as peacocks and wild boars, allowing farmers to kill them.

The request from China has been made at a time when the local authorities have taken several measures to contain the monkey population, the report said, adding that the government would look to fulfil this request considering that Beijing is one of its biggest bilateral lenders.