‘Lanka politicians like chicken – broiler and country’

Health Minister and Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s (SLFP) General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena likened politicians to chicken saying on Monday that two types of them were there, broiler and country chicken ‘The Island’ reported that Minister Sirisena was addressing a meeting, organised by the SLFP Women’s Confedaration at the party head office in Colombo.

“The broiler chicken looks good and has the weight, yet the people know that country fowls were better, more healthy and tasty.

“Likewise, there are politicians without a clear vision and capacity to instill the party’s values and traditions and those from villages with knowledge and understanding of the party history.

“The latter has more faith in the party, more love for the motherland and trust among people” he said.

The minister said, “Those without the ability to grasp inspiration from the party values, which had been upheld for decades, would not last long and history had ample examples to prove it.”

Lanka snails under threat from online trade

A new threat has emerged to the survival of Sri Lanka’s endangered endemic land snails due to the black-market trade online, environmentalists revealed to The Island.

Illegal land snail shells belonging to the genus Acavus are being bought and sold at exorbitant prices on countless internet forums and shopping Web sites worldwide with increasing frequency, rnvironmental researcher Pradeep Smarawickrema was quoted as saying.

A total variety of 253 land snails have been recorded in the country of which 205 are endemic to the country.

He explained that under the endemic genus Acavus three species Acavus haemastoma, Acavus phoenix and the Acavus superbus were in demand. Due to their colourful shells and markings, the demand for the shells among sellers and collectors overseas is on the increase.

Fluid extracted from this snail is used in medication for asthma-related problems. It is the demand for these shells that has caused the illegal smuggling of the species to thrive.

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