The Ministry of Agriculture says that China has requested Sri Lanka to provide herds of monkeys for their zoos in China.
The Ministry further says that a group of Chinese representatives has submitted this request from the Sri Lankan government.
Accordingly, a special discussion was held today (11) at the Ministry of Agriculture in Battaramulla and steps will be taken to provide a herd of 100,000 monkeys under the first phase.
A group of officials representing the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Zoological Department, and the Wildlife Department has joined the discussion which was chaired by the Minister of Agriculture, Mahinda Amaraweera.
According to this discussion, the Minister of Agriculture, Mahinda Amaraweera, said that steps should be taken to appoint a committee with the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers to study the legal situation regarding the provision of monkeys from this country to a foreign country.
It has been revealed that the population of our country is close to 30 lakhs. Among the animals that cause crop damage in this country, the fox is also the most prominent. The Ministry of Agriculture says that this request has been made against the background that all the efforts made by the government to reduce the population of monkeys have failed.
