China to Import Monkeys from Sri Lanka; Another Supected Ploy to Trap the Island Nation

It may sound unbelievable, but China has proposed to import monkeys from debt-burdened Sri Lanka. The Agriculture Minister of this island nation Mahinda Amaraweera last week announced that a proposal is on the anvil to export 1,00,000 monkeys to China. China is Sri Lanka’s biggest lender. Economic experts feel China has strategically dragged Sri Lanka into the debt trap.

Sri Lankan Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has stated that China wants the Dri Lankan monkeys for its 1,000 zoos, and through it Sri Lanka will get rid of the endemic toque macaques or common monkeys that destroy crops. The Sri Lankan Minister has formed a committee to study the project.

But this proposed monkey export to China is opposed by environmentalists and animal rights activists. They suspect something fishy behind the Chinese proposal.

In the past, China had also done similar donkey business with Pakistan. Last October 2022, China announced to import donkeys and dogs from Pakistan, which is also a country facing a severe economic crisis.

According to animal rights activists, Chinese interest in donkeys was to use the animals’ hide to manufacture traditional Chinese medicine “eijao” or donkey-hide gelatin. Chinese believe that this donkey-hide gelatin has medicinal properties. So, Sri Lanka’s animal rights groups feel Sri Lankan monkeys will face same fate as Pakistani donkeys.  to Sri Lankan monkeys.

The activists’ protest seems justifiable as no financial detail of possible monkey export to China was immediately disclosed by either party.