TV Channel MD Appointed To Head Dehiwala Zoo?
Zoologists, naturalists and environmentalists are up in arms over a recent Cabinet decision to appoint a managing director of a television channel as the Director General of the National Zoological Gardens.
However, zoo officials said that the person who had no knowledge of the subject was yet to take over the post at the Dehiwala Zoo, said to be South Asia’s oldest zoological garden. Officials also said that the person concerned had been campaigning against the zoo especially through the social media. Officials also said that there were a number of campaigns against the zoo using video clips and images from foreign zoos.
It is also understood that plans are underway through a proposal by the new DG to construct a zoo on a 63-acre plot of land in Piliyandala. Zoo officials stressed that in other words the prized zoo land at Dehiwela had been earmarked for some other venture with close connections to the newly appointed Director General. Meanwhile, it is understood Director General of the Department of National Zoological Gardens Dhammika Malsingha, is continuing with the same post from the Head office. The Island reliably learns that she would be shortly appointed as an Additional Secretary of the Ministry Environment and Wildlife. Officials close to her said that she would be happy to continue in a new post despite peer pressure to appoint a person with a zoological background.
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