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Over 100,000 monkeys to be sent to China from Sri Lanka
11 Apr, 2023
Sri Lanka is to send over 100,000 monkeys to China to be placed in zoos, the Sri Lanka Ministry of Agriculture said.
The monkeys are being sent in response to a request made by China.
A Chinese delegation had made the request at a meeting with Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.
Accordingly, 100,000 monkeys are to be sent in the first stage.
The Agriculture Ministry says there are over 3 million monkeys in Sri Lanka.
Monkeys have been seen as a threat to farmers in the rural areas.
In February, farmers were given the green-light to kill monkeys (toque macaque) to save crops.
Amaraweera had told farmers that there is no other option but to control the monkey population, better known in Sri Lanka as the rilawa.
He said that monkeys were no more in the list of protected species in Sri Lanka.
Amaraweera said that a committee had studied the matter and submitted a report which noted the need to control the monkey population. (Colombo Gazette)
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