The Ministry of Agriculture has decided to hand over the process of capturing Toque macaques to a Chinese company once the Cabinet approval is received to send these animals abroad, Aruna reported.
Although the Chinese company has agreed to pay a fee per Toque macaque to cover costs incurred on capturing and transporting them to the airport, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said the company was informed to capture Toque macaques itself since it was a difficult process.
Meanwhile, India has also requested for two Toque macaques from Sri Lanka to be displayed at one of its zoos.
Aruna said that the National Zoological Gardens Department is having further discussions in this regard.
However, India has not yet informed about the animals that would be provided in exchange of the two Toque macaques.
Meanwhile, it was reported that under animal exchange programmes, only an animal born in a zoo can be given to another zoo and that the National Zoological Gardens Department cannot capture an animal in the wild and hand it over to another zoo.
Sri Lankan Toque macaques have not been sent to any other zoo in the world recently.
