Cash-strapped Sri Lanka considers selling 100,000 monkeys to China
Outraged animal rights activists fear the monkeys could meet ‘a terrible fate’ in Chinese testing labs or restaurants
By Joe Wallen, Daily Telegrraph, 20 April 2023
The Sri Lankan government said it is exploring the idea of exporting its native toque macaque monkeys to Chinese zoos CREDIT: Getty Images/Sean Gallup
Debt-ridden Sri Lanka is so short of cash that it is considering selling more than 100,000 monkeys to China, prompting mass outrage among animal activists.
On Wednesday, the Sri Lankan government announced it had appointed a committee to explore the possibility of sending the toque macaque monkeys, unique to Sri Lanka, to be displayed in Chinese zoos.
However, China has only around 18 zoos, which, theoretically, would have to each house around 5,000 monkeys. One leading Sri Lankan environmentalist, Nayanaka Ranwella, suggested that the animals would instead find their way into Chinese restaurants.
In March, Sri Lanka, home to 22 million people, agreed a long-awaited bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund after defaulting on at least £32 billion of debt in 2022. It was the first default in the country’s history.
Still, conditions in Sri Lanka remain desperate for many, with inflation exceeding 50 per cent – the highest in Asia.
Amidst soaring food prices, charities have documented that half of Sri Lankan households are cutting their children’s food consumption while one-quarter of adults are regularly skipping meals.
Conditions in Sri Lanka remain desperate for many, with inflation exceeding 50 per cent – the highest in Asia CREDIT: Eranga Jayawardena/AP
Sri Lanka’s usable foreign exchange reserves are only approximately £400 million, less than its monthly fuel import bill. The government owes about £5.7 billion to China.
Last month, the Chinese government agreed to restructure this loan, giving Sri Lanka more time to repay them.
Colombo is now said to be exploring new avenues to generate income, including the cultivation and legalisation of marijuana.
While a plan to export the monkeys is another solution, it has sparked a fierce backlash among the country’s environmentalists and politicians, who have questioned whether the animals will ever be displayed in China’s zoos.
Hemantha Withanage, of the Centre for Environmental Justice in Colombo, said: “These animals are going to have a terrible fate.”
Four Sri Lankan conservation organisations suggested in a joint statement that the monkeys were ultimately headed for medical testing facilities in China, as “the potential income from such a trade would be far greater than that from the sale of this species to zoos”.
Exporting monkeys ‘an abomination’
Others expressed alarm that the planned export would decimate toque macaque populations in Sri Lanka. There is thought to be anywhere between 200,000 and three million of the animals in the country.
Navin Dissanayake, a member of the ruling United National Party, condemned the planned exportation of the monkeys to China as “an abomination”.
A Sri Lankan official, Bandula Gunawardana, said that discussions over the mass export of monkeys were being held with a Chinese company, not the government.
The Chinese embassy in Sri Lanka has also denied that any Chinese state department requested the shipment of monkeys, according to Mr Dissanayake.
In 2014, China tightened its laws around eating rare animals, including golden monkeys, threatening to jail people who ate these species for up to ten years.
But other monkeys are still reportedly served in many restaurants in the country and across Southeast Asia, where they are traditionally considered a delicacy and are even believed by some to have medicinal qualities.
With special thanks to our esteemed mod Arye ben-Shaoul for providing a link to this article
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