- Environmentalists question 150-acre project
- Project will need National Planning Dept. approval, new funding
A proposed pilot initiative to establish monkey detention centres as a solution to the escalating Human-Monkey Conflict (HMC) has drawn strong opposition from environmentalists and scientists, even as wildlife authorities distance themselves from the project and warn that it may fail to address the root causes of the problem.
The proposal reportedly involves setting up a 150-acre facility near the Kalu Ganga Reservoir in the Matale District to relocate monkeys from urban areas where they have caused disruptions, with the objective of controlling monkey populations.
Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) Director General Ranjan Marasinghe told The Sunday Morning that the initiative did not originate from the DWC, though the department would provide support services such as veterinary assistance and tranquilising, if required.
“It is not a DWC introduction. It was the brainchild of the District Secretary there,” Marasinghe said, adding that funding for the project was not included in the DWC’s current budget or action plan.
He further noted that any large-scale Government project would require approval from the National Planning Department and inclusion in its project pipeline. “Since the project is not with us, funding and other formal approvals have to be taken by the relevant authorities, not the DWC,” he said.
Marasinghe explained that toque macaques – the species most commonly involved in human-monkey conflicts – are not classified as protected wildlife in Sri Lanka, allowing qualified personnel outside the DWC to legally carry out capturing operations, provided the department was informed.
He emphasised that DWC officer involvement was not mandatory and clarified that crop pests fell under the purview of regional authorities unless wildlife was being used for commercial purposes.
Commenting on the likely effectiveness of detention centres, Marasinghe said: “It is hard to give a direct answer but doing something is better than nothing,” while cautioning that Sri Lanka had no precedent to assess the success of such facilities.
He acknowledged that removing one troop could simply result in another moving into the same area if underlying environmental issues were not addressed.
“Proper garbage disposal and habitat management are critical factors. Removing one or two troops will not solve the problem at a broader level,” he said.
Environmentalists, however, have strongly criticised the proposal. Centre for Environmental Justice Chairman Hemantha Withanage questioned both the practicality and behavioural feasibility of confining wild monkeys.
“In my general opinion, I do not think this is going to work,” he said, pointing to the territorial and hierarchical nature of monkey troops.
“Within troops, alpha males engage in fights with other males seeking dominance over females. Without carefully planned segregation, confinement would simply lead to violence and deaths among these animals,” he added.
Withanage argued that human behaviour lay at the heart of the issue, particularly the feeding of monkeys around religious sites and the impact of deforestation pushing animals into urban areas in search of food.
“If the religious sites and public stopped feeding monkeys, the problem would be significantly solved within another two or three years,” he said, also questioning the effectiveness of previous sterilisation programmes carried out in Matale, which he said had not produced notable results.
Adding a scientific perspective, veteran primatologist Prof. Wolfgang Dittus described the proposal as “laudable but not a solution,” citing fundamental flaws in its approach.
“The very name ‘detention centre’ applied to wild monkeys stems from a punitive rather than conservation motive reminiscent of deadly Gulags in human history,” he said.
Prof. Dittus, who has studied Sri Lankan monkeys for nearly 58 years, argued that detention centres failed to address the core cause of HMC – the abundance of edible human garbage and produce that fuels monkey populations.
“The solution lies in preventing people from purposely feeding monkeys, as is common in religious and tourist sites, and littering the environment with food, and in protecting crops with monkey deterrents. Internationally, and in Sri Lanka, this has proven to be effective,” he said.
He also noted that the proposed 150-acre site would support only about 60–100 monkeys if maintained as forest habitat, requiring costly food provisioning to sustain larger numbers. He added that similar centres in countries such as Malaysia were designed to promote primate conservation rather than reduce monkey populations or human-monkey conflicts.
“There are solutions to reduce HMC; they involve education and changes in human behaviour towards wildlife, rather than ill-conceived destruction of endemic species,” Prof. Dittus said, while commending the DWC’s earlier decision not to approve the export of 100,000 endemic and endangered toque macaques to China.
Meanwhile, Matale District Secretary Prasanna Madanayake said he was unaware of any new developments related to the initiative, noting that there had been no recent discussions since June last year.