A look at some of the events that transpired in 2020 January
- The year started off with a cold-blooded dog shooting in an animal dungeon Kobeigane, Nikaweratiya, followed by widespread public uproar, with activists once again pushing towards the enactment of the Animal Welfare Bill
- Sri Lanka ranked first in the category of Asia’s Best Nation for Wildlife Tourism by Top 10 Asia, an English language magazine published in Malaysia, the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Kuala Lumpur
- Experts warn that Sri Lanka is facing a climate crisis rather than climate change, following alarming shifts in Sri Lanka’s climate leading to repeated cycles of natural disasters including floods, drought, landslides, and cyclones
- Leopard deaths near Udawalawe National Park and Yatiyantota. Four individuals including two hunters were arrested
- Melanistic colour variant of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) spotted: Black Leopard not extinct, states the DWC
- Surges in wildlife trafficking observed following the Illegal export of 100 star tortoises and attempts to smuggle 200 live venomous scorpions
- The Sinharaja rainforest reserve has sustained “great damage” due to the construction of concrete-laden roads. Construction of the Kudawa access road to Sinharaja has destroyed the natural habitat endemic species (i.e. bulath hapaya)
- Lockdown imposed amidst the pandemic has a positive turn for wildlife in areas with rampant over-visitation and unregulated feeding of wildlife, experts say (i.e. Yala)
- Rare black leopard rescued from a snare in Nallathanniya dies. General protocol following leopard deaths reportedly not followed. Crowds had been allowed to gather around the traumatised animal, even after the authority outreach
- Retired Superintendent of Police (SP) allegedly shot and killed a dog that was kept as a pet at a neighbouring house in Periyamulla, Negombo
- The Prime Minister instructs to take prompt action to minimise the human-elephant conflict
- Two elephant calves observed in Sri Lanka’s Minneriya National Park in June are the island’s first recorded live twins
- Conservationist and former DWC Director General Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya estimated that the number of elephant deaths decreased by 40% during the coronavirus lockdown, which started in March and officially ended in June (first Covid wave)
- The President instructs to find a sustainable solution to human-elephant conflict within two years, during a meeting to discuss future activities of the State Ministry of Wildlife Conservation Protection Programmes including Electric Fence and Ditch Construction and Reforestation and Wildlife Resources Development: A long-overdue resolution of nearly 40 years
- The Ududumbara Police arrested three individuals transporting parts of a leopard carrying a severed head and different parts of the beast’s body for sale (17 kg of leopard flesh)
- Cabinet approval received to ban cattle slaughter as tabled by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. “As a country with an economy based on agriculture, the contribution of the cattle resource to develop the livelihood of the rural people of Sri Lanka is immense.”
- Three-member committee appointed by the President to find a stable solution to the human-elephant conflict to present the Action Plan soon
- Leopard population in Sri Lanka, less than 1,000, was shortlisted as “endangered” on the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List as early as 2016
- Two endangered leopards, including a rare melanistic black panther, were killed after getting caught to traps, within less than a span of a week
- Mystery sea turtle deaths in olive ridley: Sea turtles washed ashore on the beaches of Colombo
- Volunteers braved a pandemic lockdown to help push over 120 short-finned pilot whales out to sea after they beached in southwestern Sri Lanka in Panadura
- The status of the Sri Lankan subspecies leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is down-listed from Endangered (EN) to Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Global Red List of Threatened Species