The researchers of Peradeniya University’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine successfully performed the research implantation of a new small-size loop in the Toque Macaque female monkey’s vagina to prevent pregnancies yesterday (24).
For this research, a once-calving female about 1 1/2 years of age was used.
The surgery was led by Professor Ashoka Dangolla, Head of the Veterinary Education and Veterinary Clinical Department of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Peradeniya. He said that in the X-ray examination conducted after the surgery, it was seen that the loop had been successfully implanted.
Prof. Dangolla said that the new smaller size loop was created due to the failure of the previous tests using a normal size loop as a birth control method for female monkeys. The professor explained that because of the frequent contractions and secretions of the pregnant woman’s uterus, there is a greater tendency for the implanted loop to push out, so it is believed that the new small loop will not be pushed into the bile.
Prof. Dangolla also said that the doctors of the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital’s obstetrics and neurology department and the Peradeniya Faculty of Dentistry received support for this research.
The professor said that it takes about half an hour to anesthetize the animal to place the loop and then it takes about half an hour for the surgery.
Professor Dangolla points out that it is possible to place the noose and release the animal back into the wild in about an hour. If the animal is subjected to a neutering operation, the animal will have to be taken care of for at least three days.
He also said that since a 20-year-old female monkey usually gives birth to 10-15 cubs in her lifetime, as all parties have identified, this method has the potential to be used practically to control the lion population.
Veterinarians BGSS Gamage, KPIR Kahatapitiya, PB Abeyratne, Wildlife Researcher Anil Dikkumbura, and Assistant MM Dhanasekara participated in the operation.
The monkeys have become a menace for farmers and growers because they discriminate against all the crops each day. Last year there was a controversy over a proposal to send a hundred thousand animals to China.
