Proposal for a National Wildlife Health Centre in Sri Lanka

This summer the Headquarters Office of the CCWHC, the Centre for Coastal Health and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of the University of Peradeniya carried out a feasibility study for the development of a national wildlife health centre in Sri Lanka. The general plan is to twin the Sri Lanka centre with the CCWHC and develop a program in Sri Lanka similar to that of the CCWHC, over about a five year period. This program will build on a very successful program in veterinary public health carried out by the University and the Centre for Coastal Health over the past five years. The work this summer consisted of a three-week visit to the CCWHC in Saskatoon by professor Sampath Lokugalappatti from Sri Lanka and research assistant Sophie Valeix from France. They then went to Sri Lanka, together with Ted Leighton and Craig Stephen, and carried out a series of interviews and facility visits over a five week period to assess how best to develop a wildlife health program in the country. The results of this study now are being used to prepare formal inter-institutional agreements and a structural and operational plan for the Sri Lankan centre.

By: Ted Leighton, CCWHC – Headquarters Office