Keeping everyone informed
The Dung Beetle Project, for which WNPS is sponsoring the scientific research component, aims to build an environmental quality model using dung beetles as a biological indicator. This model will be an important validation tool to determine the healthiness of tea and other agricultural landscapes.
The Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) in partnership with Hemas Consumer Brands and Department of Wildlife Cnservation commemorated World Wetland Day by planting mangrove seedlings in degraded areas within Anawilundawa Wetland Sanctuary in Puttalam, together with the local community. The planted seedlings were carefully nurtured and grown to adapt to conditions within the wetland in Nurseries within the surrounding mangrove habitats prior to being planted in the areas that are now demarcated for regeneration and around abandoned shrimp farms. Hemas Consumer Brands has committed to regeneration a 3.5 hectare area demarcated for regeneration.
The Wildlife & Nature Protection Society (WNPS) is appalled to learn that so-called birdwatchers from
the Capital are visiting Mannar armed with drones, endangering the continued stay, and future
migration, to this unique place of these special, rare and beautiful species of birds. Most are migrants,
some flying in from thousands of miles away, to feed and breed in the hitherto haven of Mannar.
Flamingoes are the most noticeable, hundreds of them, straining the briny waters for the shrimp they
thrive on. However, there are many more, and almost every year, new species are recorded here; a
wonder not just for local ornithologists, but those from overseas too, bringing with them much-needed
foreign exchange to this country.
In celebration of the National Tree Planting Day, Monday 15th November, a tree planting event was conducted on Sunday 14 th November at the Bellanwila-Attidiya Sanctuary, the site of WNPS’s ‘Green Isle Project’. The initial idea and commitment came from Seyara and her friends from Visakha Vidyalaya to plant 100 trees of recommended species. A highlight of the event was the planting of 5 saplings of the endemic Crudia Zeylanica, which was believed to be extinct in the wild.
In 2020, Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) initiated Sri Lanka’s first-ever Life Insurance Policy for the employees of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC). The program which continues in its second year has so far provided Life, Permanent, and Partially Disability Cover to 2,670 DWC employees.
Lanka Ratne Martin Wijesinghe, the legend of Sinharaja passed away last night after a brief illness. He was born on a Christmas eve - 24 th December, 1939.