After the Sri Lankan Agriculture Minister announced that the authorities are planning to export 100,000 endangered toque macaque monkeys to a private Chinese company, animal rights activists staged a protest, Voice of America reported.
The toque macaque, which is endemic to Sri Lanka, features in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of endangered animals, it is not a protected species in Sri Lanka. After the announcement, conservationists and animal rights activists warned, however, they do not believe the Chinese zoos have space for 100,000 toque macaques and that it was more likely the monkeys would be used for testing in labs.Sri Lankan authorities say farmers view the roughly 3 million toque macaques in Sri Lanka as a menace because they damage crops.
“Toque monkeys are the foremost among the animals that cause crop damage in this country. All the efforts made by the government so far to reduce its population have failed,” Amaraweera said.
The conservationists have criticized the move, with many expressing fear the animals may be used for tests in labs, reported Voice of America.Four conservation groups — Wildlife and Nature Protection Society, Center for Environmental Justice, Federation of Environmental Organizations, and Rally for Animal Rights and Environment Sri Lanka — said in a statement last week there are only 18 Chinese zoos fitting the “globally accepted criteria” of a zoo.
“This averages out at 5,000 macaques per zoo. This is not credible,” the statement said.”Macaques, with their human-like qualities have been particularly popular, especially with medical testing facilities in the U.S. and Europe.
