The growing presence of peacocks, monkeys and deer in Sri Lanka’s urban areas is largely the result of habitat loss, disrupted food chains and a decline in predator populations, a Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) official has told the Daily Mirror.

Hasini Sarathchandra of the DWC said expanding human settlements, industrialisation and development had reduced natural habitats — particularly in the low-country wet zone — pushing animals into towns and cities and bringing them into closer contact with people.

Why the numbers are rising

Sarathchandra pointed to the loss of predators as a specific mechanism, not just a general consequence of development.

“Predators play an important role in controlling wildlife populations. For instance, foxes prey on peacock eggs, helping regulate their numbers. However, with habitat loss and a decline in predator populations, this natural balance is disrupted, contributing to the increase in peacocks in urban areas.”

Monkeys are coming into contact with settlements as their habitats shrink, she said, and are common in the low-country wet zone including the Kegalle and Kalutara districts. Loss of habitat has also made small mammals more likely to move into built-up areas.

Deer have been reported in urban and semi-urban areas including Homagama, where Sarathchandra said the population had grown from two deer originally brought into a household as pets — an origin that sets the Homagama case apart from the habitat-displacement pattern she describes elsewhere.

How the Department responds

Several DWC regional offices handle wildlife complaints, including the Colombo Wildlife Range Office, the Western Province Wildlife Office in Gampaha, and the Muthurajawela and Attidiya range offices.

Where an animal is reported to be attacking or biting people, the Department captures it and relocates it to a suitable habitat away from urban settlements. Injured animals are taken to the Attidiya Wildlife Hospital for treatment and released once recovered. Deer requiring relocation are released into national parks in the dry zone.

Sarathchandra said removing wildlife from urban areas altogether would be difficult, because their presence is tied to wider changes in their natural environments. The Department’s work is therefore aimed at responding to specific safety concerns, treating injured animals and relocating them where necessary — rather than at clearing animals out of the city.

Not reported

The account carries no figures: no estimate of how many peacocks, monkeys or deer are now in urban areas, no count of complaints received, and no record of how many animals have been captured, treated or relocated. It does not say over what period the increase has been observed, or give Sarathchandra’s position within the Department.

It does not report whether anyone has been injured in an urban wildlife encounter, whether the relocations succeed — that is, whether relocated animals stay in the parks they are released into — or what capacity the Attidiya hospital has. No crop or property damage figures are given, and there is no comment from the Ministry responsible for wildlife, from local authorities in the affected areas, or from residents.

The report is a single-newsroom interview with a departmental official; no other verified newsroom had filed on it at the time of writing.