Damage caused by monkeys to be minimised

by Mohammed NAALIR

The Wildlife Department has initiated a program to trap and release monkeys into forest areas, Polonnaruwa District Wildlife Department Officer Sujith Karunaratne told the Sunday Observer.

He said 6,000 monkeys were trapped in the Badulla district and released later into the Maduru-Oya forest.

Karunaratne said monkeys enter cultivated land from nearby jungles, causing severe damage to crops.

They should be sent out of cultivated areas to prevent losses to farmers, Karunaratne said.

He said monkeys even creep into houses, inconveniencing people.

The program implemented to trap monkeys and release them into forests has succeeded to a great extent, Karunaratne said.