In support of Wildlife & Nature Protection Society (WNPS), Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ),
Federation of Environmental Organizations(FEO), and RARE Sri Lanka
The Asia for Animals Coalition (AFA) is a network of local, national and international animal
protection and conservation organizations with a particular focus on Asian animal advocacy. The
Macaque Coalition (MACC) is an AfA working group composed of organizations and experts with a
particular interest and expertise in macaque welfare, trade, conservation and advocacy.
This statement is supported by the undersigned AfA and MACC member organizations.
Recently, a group of Sri Lankan environmental protection groups, in conjunction with species and
conservation experts, released a joint statement about a widely-reported proposal to remove up to
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100,000 toque macaques from the wild in Sri Lanka and send them to China, ostensibly for placement
in the country’s zoos. The undersigned AfA and MACC member organizations wholeheartedly
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support the call by Wildlife & Nature Protection Society (WNPS), Centre for Environmental Justice
(CEJ), Federation of Environmental Organizations (FEO), and RARE Sri Lanka to halt these plans, and
to instead invest in the development of sound, well-researched interventions that protect both people
and wildlife.
Further, we share the doubts expressed by the above mentioned organizations that these
animals are feasibly destined for lives in zoos. Given the numbers involved and the present global
demand for primates as subjects for biomedical research, we fear it is more likely that these
Endangered macaques are intended for use by the research industry.
Media reports on this issue are confusing, with conflicting statements about whether either the Sri
Lankan or the Chinese governments are seriously considering moving forward with the proposed plan
in relation to any number of macaques. Additionally, details of the private company said to have
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approached Sri Lanka’s Agricultural Department about the export of macaques are missing and raise
questions; no contact person is provided on the letter, the company’s seal is backwards, and, while they
told one source by telephone that their company is “not yet in full operation”, the company appears to
be involved in lawsuits with two other breeding companies in Northeast China.
Toque macaques (Macaca sinica) are found only on the island of Sri Lanka. They have been classified as
Endangered since 2008, with one subspecies (M.s. opishtomelas) recently reassessed as Critically
Endangered. Though these monkeys can appear to be overabundant in areas where they have learned
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to take advantage of easy access to food, these sites are “highly localized and do not represent
macaque population numbers countywide.” At least 70 % of the species’ habitat has been converted
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to other uses over the past 65 years, and concurrent with this, the toque macaque population has
declined by more than 50% over the last 40 years. Furthermore, there is every indication that these
declines will continue as toque macaques have no legal protection and are managed as a pest species,
despite the fact they represent an integral part of the natural biodiversity heritage of Sri Lanka.
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The removal of any substantial number of toque macaques from the wild would not only cause
immense suffering to the individual animals involved, it could also cause irreversible ecological damage
which would negatively affect the people and wildlife of Sri Lanka for years to come. The survival of the
species, already edging towards extinction, would become even more fragile.
Sri Lankan citizens, and the world, would be deprived of a unique and ecologically important animal species.
Macaques play important roles in the ecosystems they inhabit. The disappearance of key species like
macaques can degrade entire habitats, in turn compromising other species’ ability to survive – and
ultimately our own.
We understand that crop losses can be devastating to people’s livelihoods and
encounters with monkeys that have become dependent on human food can be dangerous. However,
neither the ad hoc killing nor the mass removal of macaques is a sustainable or humane solution. The
resources that would be allocated to the location, trapping and transport of hundreds or thousands of
monkeys should instead be invested in addressing the root causes of local overabundance and the
development of truly effective measures that protect both crops and wildlife and promote continued
coexistence.
Human-monkey conflict mitigation strategies for Sri Lanka have been discussed and
developed in recent years. , Such strategies should be evaluated and, where feasible, implemented
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supporting with this statement are working in consultation with well-established experts on toque
macaques, Sri Lankan ecology and conservation, who we know are prepared to advise on these very
issues. Organizations within our Coalition may also be available to assist.
The undersigned organizations from around the globe, on behalf of the many millions of members they
represent, have considerable collective experience and expertise in human-wildlife conflict and its
mitigation, and respectfully ask that the Sri Lankan authorities listen to their experts in this matter, and
invest in real, effective and lasting solutions that do not place an entire species at risk.
Sent on behalf ofthe following AfA Core Member Organizations:
