News

Lanka experimenting with IUDs to tackle monkey menace

Published

2 years ago

2024/08/11

Thilina Walpola

While there is no official number, scientists estimate there are roughly 3 million toque macaques in Sri Lanka.

By Meera Srinivasan

In a bid to address Sri Lanka’s “monkey menace”, a Sri Lankan academic is testing out intrauterine devices (IUDs) on female macaques, to possibly control the population of the species commonly found in the island nation.

There is no official number, but authorities estimate there are roughly three million toque macaques in the country. Some scientists have contested the claim, saying the number is much less, close to five lakh. Last year, the Sri Lankan government resumed issuing shotguns to farmers, amid mounting complaints of serious damage to crops by wild animals. The government’s move came after it scrapped an earlier proposal to export monkeys to China that was widely criticised by conservationists.

The ongoing experiment seeks to adapt intrauterine devices (IUDs), an increasingly popular long-term contraception method for humans — upon insertion into the woman’s uterus, an IUD prevents pregnancy — to the monkey species. Use of the device on animals is only at an experimental stage, according to Prof. Ashoka Dangolla, a senior veterinary scientist attached to the University of Peradeniya, in Sri Lanka’s central Kandy district, who is leading the experiment.

“We fit the IUDs in eight monkeys about three months ago and are monitoring their response. The next stage will require introducing sexually mature male monkeys. If the monkeys mate, we would be able to study if the females get pregnant. The third stage would be a field trial,” he told The Hindu.

Prof. Dangolla has been involved in various community initiatives to tackle the monkey population for some 15 years now. “It takes many years for [birth control] surgeries in male monkeys to begin impacting the population,” he said. For his ongoing experiment, he used regular IUDs sourced from India, after resizing them locally for use on the monkeys. “To complete the experiment, I would need more support,” he said, adding that there is currently little government backing for his experiment.

Meanwhile, experts remain sceptical of birth control measures on animals, that have been tried in other contexts. Wolfgang Dittus, a renowned primatologist based in Sri Lanka, who has been studying the island’s toque macaques for over half a century contended that contraception takes many years to affect population reduction, and that it is neither desirable nor practical to capture and treat all monkeys.

While noting that the ongoing experiment was of interest, he said similar experiments on free-ranging monkeys in Asia have shown that it is effective only if contraception is combined with a legally imposed strict ban on feeding wild monkeys, since access to human food fuels monkey survival, birth rates, immigration, and the resulting population growth.

Further, reducing the monkey population will not necessarily reduce the human-monkey conflict, in his view. “Sri Lanka needs to think out of the box, implement new strategies for quality living. Issuing guns to farmers to kill wildlife is obviously not a cogent solution to any current challenges. Plantations and crops can be protected from loss to wildlife, but it requires a receptive culture for implementing novel methods of doing agriculture in coexistence with nature,” Dittus said.

(The Hindu)

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Ranawaka accuses govt. of using JVP cadres and police to suppress political opponents

Published

4 hours ago

2026/10/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

… reminds AKD led over 560 protests during Yahapalanaya

Former Yahapalana Minister and United Republican Front (URF) leader Patali Champika Ranawaka yesterday (19) alleged that the JVP, which carried out over 560 protests during the 2015-2019 period, was now bent on preventing the Opposition from exercising its democratic right to protest.

Recalling the declaration made by the JVP at the height of the violent protest campaign in July 2022 that it would set the Parliament ablaze, the former parliamentarian lashed out at the JVP-led administration for using the police excessively to curb political opposition. Ranawaka said this while addressing the media at the former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Flower Road Office .

Commenting on the protest campaign launched by the Maha Sangha, demanding presidential pardon for General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) Ven. Galagotaatte Gnanasara, the ex-Colombo District lawmaker alleged that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake used a combination of police, investigative units and JVP cadres to break up the monks’ protest. The government went to the extent of compelling the JVP/NPP-run Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) to deprive the peaceful protesters of basic toilet facilities, he alleged.

The government’s actions proved that only those with prior approval from JVP Pelawatte headquarters could launch protests in Colombo, its suburbs or in the provinces. The police have become a political tool in the hands of the JVP, the ex-Minister said. (SF)

News

Six killed as speeding bulker crashes into vehicles, shop in Akurana

Published

4 hours ago

2026/10/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

By SK Samaranayake

Six people were killed and seven others injured when a speeding bulker lorry carrying cement and concrete ploughed into several vehicles and a shop on the Kandy-Jaffna A9 road at Kurugoda, Akurana, yesterday (19).

Four of the victims, two women and two men, died on the spot in the accident which occurred around 10.30 am, according to Alawathugoda Police.

Police said the bulker, travelling at high speed from the Matale direction, collided with three three-wheelers, two motorcycles and two lorries before veering off the road and crashing into a commercial establishment.

Five of the injured were rushed to the National Hospital of Kandy, where hospital sources said two remained in critical condition.

The bodies of the four victims were placed at the Akurana Hospital, where two others, who suffered minor injuries, were also receiving treatment.

The driver of the bulker was arrested by the Alawathugoda Police Traffic Division and is to be produced before court.

Investigations are being conducted under the supervision of Central Province Senior DIG Lalith Pathinayake.

News

Prof. Peiris, summoned by CIABOC, appeals for Ven. Gnanasara’s release

Published

4 hours ago

2026/10/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

G.L. Peiris

By Shamindra Ferdinando

owledging that there had been an administrative lapse on the part of the President’s Office in 2019 when Maithripala Sirisena granted presidential pardon to Ven. Gnanasara Thera, Convener of Janathawadi Joint Opposition Prof. G.L. Peiris yesterday (19) urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to rectify whatever those shortcomings and release the General Secretary of Bodu Bala Sena.

Addressing the media at the former President Ranil Wickrekmesinghe’s Flower Road Office, Prof. Peiris emphasized that it was not fair to hold Ven. Gnanasara accountable for lapse or technical fault of others at the Presidential Secretariat during President Sirisena’s tenure.

Prof. Peiris was flanked by UNP Chairman Wajira Abeywardena and United Republican Front (URF) leader Patali Champika Ranawaka.

The fresh appeal was made on behalf of Ven. Gnanasara in the wake of President Dissanayake and JVP heavyweight Anura Kumara Dissanayake ruling out fresh presidential pardon for the monk. Minister Lal Kantha declared that the government couldn’t under any circumstances meet the continuing monks’ protest demanding Ven. Gnanasara’s release. President Dissanayake dismissed repeated appeals for Ven. Gnanasara’s release when he addressed the NPP really in Badulla.

Sirisena granted presidential pardon in May 2019 even before he completed a year of his six-year term of rigorous imprisonment for contempt of court during proceedings of the media personality Prageeth Ekneligoda’s 2010 January disappearance in the Homagama Magistrate’s court.

At the onset of the regular weekly briefing, Prof. Peiris said that he would report to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) today (20) morning as requested by the commission. “The CIABOC wanted to record my statement regarding a meeting I chaired at the ministry after the conclusion of the war in 2009 pertaining to an ongoing investigation.”

Commenting further on the imprisonment of Ven. Gnanasara, the former parliamentarian said that President Sirisena intervened following a spate of requests made on behalf of BBS General Secretary by the Mahanayakes, Anunayakes and other Maha Sangha.

The Supreme Court on 10 September, 2026 rescinded the presidential pardon granted in late May 2019.