ECONOMYNEXT – Around 200 million coconuts are destroyed by toque monkeys and giant squirrels in Sri Lanka, its Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries, Mahinda Amaraweera said.
“We don’t need to do anything if we stop the animals eating… a minimum of 200 million coconuts a year are being destroyed by toque monkeys and giant squirrels,” Amaraweera told reporters on Wednesday.
In April 2023, Sri Lanka planned to ship 100,000 toque monkeys to China, however the government could not go through with the plan due to action from animal rights groups.
“We had the opportunity to send 100,000 toque monkeys abroad but groups came forward, and they still come forward, and these animal rights groups went to court and stopped them. But this [loss] is not borne by them but by the farming community and the overall community in the country,” Amaraweera said.
Export of wild animals is banned by Sri Lanka, but the government earlier this year removed several species, including monkeys, from a protected list allowing farmers to kill them because of excess crop damage.
Sri Lankan authorities have estimated the monkey population at two to three million in the South Asian nation of 22 million people. Monkeys are considered pests by farmers.
In order to solve the human-animal conflict, the University of Peradeniya is testing IUDs in order to push for lower toque monkey birth rates.
Sri Lanka testing IUDs to control monkey births as farmers push for guns
The hormonal IUDs are seen as a humane alternative to the Sri Lankan government decision to provide firearms to farmers.
Earlier this year Sri Lanka started distributing air rifles to farmers to fight off an expanding population of monkeys and other wild animals that are destroying crops, as the country seeks to increase export crops. (Colombo/Jul25/2024)