Biodiversity conservation in Hiyare

At a ceremony held in Hiyare, Galle amidst the presence of officials, Bank staff, CEO of Nations Trust Bank Zulfiqar Zavahir together with Mayor of Galle Methsiri de Silva and President of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle Anusha Madhura de Silva formally declared open the Biodiversity Breeding centre at the Hiyare Rainforest, a key aspect of the Biodiversity conservation project.

Nations Trust Bank commenced this project last year as a part of the Bank’s CSR initiative in partnership with the Galle Wildlife Conservation Society and the Municipal Council of Galle.

The project is centric to the Hiyare Rainforest -a scenic 600 acre rainforest which is situated in Galle and home to several endemic and rare species of fauna and flora.

The conservation efforts focus on education programmes targeted at school children and undergrads - with detailed focus on the rich biodiversity in our country and aims at imparting valuable knowledge on the endemic and threatened species and the urgent requirement to take positive action towards preserving our rich animal and plant life.

Workshop programmes are also conducted - these are full day detailed sessions tailor-made for the various groups such as school children, undergrads, private sector staff and nature enthusiasts.

The workshop is an extensive programme that includes visits to the rainforest as well as hands on experience in understanding amphibians, reptiles etc. The Animal Rescue Programme is yet another key activity in Hiyare -this is an innovative effort that seeks to provide immediate medical and surgical care for injured wildlife.

With the aim of providing surgical care, rehabilitation and finally release back to the wild, the Society to date has rescued and released several rare species of the hog deer, pythons, brahminy kites, whistling teals, eagles and snakes to name just a few.

“The project this year added yet another crucial element towards biodiversity conservation with the commencement of a breeding programme,” said Anusha Madhura de Silva the President of the Galle Wildlife Conservation Society.

“This is the first of its kind in Sri Lanka and what we have set out to do is a Breeding programme for 2 species of freshwater fish (Cuming’s Barb and Ornate Paradise Fish) that have been declared as ‘nationally threatened species’ as well as the endemic Anthropogenic shrub frog.

This project aims at increasing the population of nationally threatened species, repopulating them at the Centre and thereafter after extensive study and field research we hope to reintroduce these back to areas where their population is low.

We strongly believe that our study will be of immense value particularly in the future as scientists try to understand the behavior patterns of these species and in trying to regenerate the rare species.”

P.R.