WNPS to join rally to save Wilpattu from illegal encroachment

The Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) in a recent statement revealed that it would converge at Vihara Maha Devi Park alongside other conservation activists for a rally protesting the “illegal destruction” of the Wilpattu National Park on 14 December from 2.00 pm. 

It said the move served to not only “draw attention to the illegal destruction of this national, natural treasure, the Wilpattu National Park, but also to urge the Government to take positive action to stop its further degradation and to restore the park and protected areas back to their original boundaries.”

The following is the full statement.

The Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) was instrumental in the establishment of the Wilpattu National Park and, until the setting up of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), was directly involved in its administration too.  The Watchers, as the original Game Guards were referred to, were paid and their duties supervised by the Society.  As such, the Society has a deep and abiding interest in the welfare of this premier natural heritage and will do its utmost to preserve its integrity both geographically with reference to its boundaries, and as a sanctuary for wildlife.

With this in mind, the General Committee of the WNPS has called on all of its members and well-wishers to join them in expressing protest against the illegal encroachments that are taking place within the National Park, and in the protected areas immediately surrounding it. There are several such destructive developments going on and the WNPS strongly opposes them irrespective of the ethnicity, religion or political persuasion of the perpetrators of these crimes against the State, and the present and future generations of Sri Lankans.

With this in mind, the WNPS proposes to join other conservation activists at a rally to be held at the Vihara Maha Devi Park in Colombo on Thursday, 14 December, 2017 at 2.00pm. The purpose of the rally is not only to draw attention to the illegal destruction of this national, natural treasure, the Wilpattu National Park, but also to urge the Government to take positive action to stop its further degradation, and to restore the park and protected areas back to their original boundaries.

It is hoped that not just the membership of WNPS but all nature lovers will answer this call to save Wilpattu, intact, for the future. The forests of Sri Lanka were conserved and gifted to us by our ancestors as they realised how important their existence was to our health and wellbeing.  Should we not preserve them for our children too?