Sarath Fonseka disputes Sirisena’s monkey claim

By Saman Indrjaith

Former President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday told Parliament that the monkey population in the country had increased to become a serious problem.

 Participating in the debate on the Government’s Policy Statement, the former President said that farmers were confronted with a serious issue where their crops were destroyed by animals.

He said that when he was the Agriculture Minister there were around one million monkeys in Sri Lanka. “However, today the number has increased to over two million monkeys,” Sirisena said adding that the increased monkey population had become a threat as they destroy the crops cultivated by the people.

“These animals are not harmed here because ours is a Buddhist country. In addition, there are animal rights groups who will oppose such an act,” he said.

Sirisena said that Sri Lanka was the only country where animals were given protection as opposed to food grown for human consumption.

He said that coconut cultivations were the most affected by the monkeys. “Suppose a single monkey destroys the harvest of a single tree to pluck one coconut, we would have to forego the harvest of around 1.5 million trees. This would result in a shortage of coconuts,” he said.

SJB Gampaha District MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka however said that Sirisena was wrong in his estimates. “It is wrong to assume that monkeys have nothing else to do but to engage in a campaign to destroy coconut trees. According to him, monkeys ate only coconuts and keep on plucking coconuts. That is far from the truth. Monkeys destroy other crops too. It is sad that he sees that as an issue of high importance. There are many other burning issues in this country,” Field Marshal Fonseka said.