Red scorpion research stalled: Wildlife Dept silence stings Pera zoologists
Peradeniya University zoologists have called off a red scorpion research programme with foreign collaboration after repeated appeals to the Wildlife Department for permission proved futile.
A senior zoology professor said the wildlife authorities’ permission was required to bring in specimen or transport the scorpions, which belonged to the Arachnida class, for comparative studies. But the research committee had not received a response to its request.
Prof. Kithsiri Ranawana who heads the research team said another issue was that the foreign researchers had come to the country on a business or tourist visas and therefore, the research committee felt it should not proceed with the programme without permission. But they had not got a positive response from the Wildlife Department to their request.
The professor said he also wrote to the Foreign Ministry but did not even get an acknowledgment.
He said that without Wildlife Department’s permission, he would not proceed with the research as he did not want to take risks when catching scorpions.
The first red scorpion specimen for the research came from Jaffna University Professor S.A.M. Kularatne, who is also an anti-venom expert. This was the beginning of the research, Prof. Ranawana said, adding that the purpose of the research was to study the behavioral patterns of the red scorpion which was endemic to the Jaffna district. The species had spread to other districts as well, he said.
The research was also started with the intention of giving the undergraduates more exposure to Arachnid species, he said.
The red scorpion is as deadly as the ' krait' – a venomous Sri Lankan cobra which is more venomous than the
Indian krait, he added.