For trying to smuggle hundreds of endemic insects, including 92 species of butterflies, out of a safari park, an Italian father and his son were fined 60 million Sri Lankan rupees ($ 200, 000 ) and fined ( £125, 000 ).
Luigi Ferrari, 68, and his 28-year-old child Mattia were detained by soldiers at Yala National Park on May 8 this year after being discovered with bottles containing the flies.
According to investigations, the men planned to use wax sachets to biologically keep the insects after they had been lured by animal attractants.
They were convicted in early September of unlawful set, hands and transportation of the insects, and handed the highest-ever good for wildlife violence in the country.
K Sujeewa Nishantha, a park ranger, claimed a safari car driver had informed his squad of rangers that a” suspicious vehicle” was parked along the street and that the two men involved had used mosquito nets to enter the forest on the day of the event.
The guards discovered thousands of jars in the trunk of the car where the insects were stored.
When we discovered the pests, they were all dead. They put a substance in the containers”, Mr Nishantha said. ” There were more than three hundred species”.
The people were immediately slapped with 810 fees, but these were afterwards reduced to 304. If they do n’t pay the fine by the deadline of September 24th, they could spend two years in prison.
The men have been detained in Sri Lanka since the incident, according to European news reports, and were on vacation there at the time.
Yala National Park, located in the government’s south-east, is one of Sri Lanka’s most famous wildlife gardens, residence to a higher concentration of lions, elephants and buffalos, among different species.
Luigi Ferrari, an orthopedic surgeon who specialises in treating foot and ankle injury, was described by his companions as an insect lover, reports say. Additionally, he is a member of an biology group in Modena, a city in northern Italy.
On Luigi’s behest, his friends and Italian colleagues have asked for mercy. According to the European regular Corriere la Sera, some people claimed that the butterflies in his hands have no economic benefit.
Dr. Jagath Gunawardena, an analyst on environmental laws, told the BBC Sinhala that the$ 200, 000 fine was a reminder to criminals as well as a great law.
In Sri Lanka, animals fraud is not unusual. On August 28th, two Russians were detained for bringing in animals in the vicinity of the mountain Knuckles Forest Reserve, a wildlife hub in northern Sri Lanka.
More monitoring by BBC Sinhala