Lanka does vermin check with census

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Saturday successfully conducted the first-ever island-wide census to count monkeys, squirrels, and peacocks to tackle agricultural losses caused by them. A survey conducted in 2022, over a period of 6 months, pegged the value of crop damage caused by animals at 30 billion Sri Lankan rupee.
Saturday's census saw widespread participation, said deputy minister of agriculture Namal Karunaratna. Some 40,000 officials at the grassroots got households to fill in a form to gather data on the number of Toque monkeys, purple-faced langurs, giant squirrels and peacocks.