Sri Lanka’s agriculture minister Mahinda Amaraweera has asked officials to study China’s request to procure toque macaques, news portal Economy Next reported on Wednesday. “They want these monkeys for their zoos,” the minister was quoted as saying. The minister 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. No financial details were made available so far, it added.
A special discussion was held on Tuesday on dispatching monkeys to China under the first phase of the programme, the Ada Derana news portal reported.The discussion headed by Minister Amaraweera was also attended by officials from the Agriculture Minister, Department of National Zoological Gardens, and Department of Wildlife Conservation.The meeting was informed that the current monkey population in Sri Lanka has reached nearly 3 million and the animals were a menace to local crops.