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    Government mulls restricting visitors to national parks to prevent animal deaths by speeding vehicles

    September 03, 2015

    Government is considering measures to restrict the rate of visitors to island's national parks after a rise in animal deaths by speeding vehicles inside the park has been observed. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe said it has recently been brought to light that there has been a spate of vehicular accidents causing disruption and injury to the wildlife at Yala National Park.

    More recently, a young female leopard was found killed by a hit and run accident last week and earlier some deer were found killed inside the country's most visited Yala National park.

     

    "As an animal lover myself, this matter is very close to my heart," the Prime Minister wrote on his Facebook page.

     

    "I believe strongly that as citizens, we all share the responsibility of protecting and ensuring the wellbeing of our nation's abundant wealth of wildlife," he said.

     

    The Prime Minister said the government is currently looking into how to effectively implement measures to restrict vehicles from speeding within the park.

     

    "We are currently looking into how we can implement meaningful measures such as the strict enforcement of speed limits and further restrictions on the rate of visitors to each of our national parks and reserves, in order to create an environment that is safe and secure for all its inhabitants," he noted.

     

    Sri Lankan wildlife conservation authorities in July banned the use of cell phone in the Yala National Park to prevent wildlife getting killed by the speeding vehicles and the telecommunications regulator had agreed to switch off mobile phone coverage within the park during peak visitor times.

     

    When a leopard or another interesting animal is spotted by one guide, the others will also be notified of the spot rapidly through cell phones and the other guide vehicles rush to the location flouting park traffic laws, the authorities said.

     

    Yala National Park is the country's second largest park and home to the world's highest concentration of leopards and large numbers of elephants, bears and deer.

     

    It attracts more than 100,000 foreign tourists each year and is a key source of revenue to the government.

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