Tourists fined $200,000 for stealing butterflies in Sri Lanka
An Italian family's trip to Sri Lanka is one they won't soon forget but for all the wrong reasons. A father and son were slapped with a hefty fine after being caught attempting to smuggle rare, endemic insects out of a safari park.
Safari park tours are a popular attraction for tourists. They offer the chance to observe exotic animals in their natural habitatāan experience quite different from zoos, where animals are confined to small enclosures and where visitors take home only photographs or items from gift shops as souvenirs of their trips. However, some tourists seek more unusual souvenirs.
Related
- This leisure activity in Lithuania is like a magnet for foreign tourists and leaves them mesmerized
- Street lights turned off in Madeira. All for the sake of birds
- High reward offered for identification of falcon killer
- Vienna bans barbecues in city parks due to fire risk
- Climate change blamed for surge in bat population in Polish cities
Family caught attempting to steal insects from safari park
On 8 May 2024, two men were arrested in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka. Luigi Ferrari, 68, and his 28-year-old son, Mattia, were caught trying to collect jars of exotic butterflies. Using specialised attractants, the Italian tourists lured the insects and intended to preserve them chemically with wax sachets.
The pair were apprehended by Yala National Park rangers, who discovered them with jars in hand, actively catching insects. The arrest came after a safari jeep driver reported a suspicious vehicle parked near the park's entrance. Witnesses described two men equipped with insect nets leaving the car and heading towards the trees.
The insects in the trunk were found dead
When park rangers arrived at the suspects' vehicle, they made a startling discovery. Upon opening the boot, they found hundreds of jars filled with insects. K. Sujeewa Nishantha, a park ranger, told BBC Sinhala: "All the insects were dead when we found them. They put a chemical in the bottles. There were more than three hundred animals."
Luigi and Mattia Ferrari were initially charged with 810 offences, although this number was later reduced to 304. The court fined the men $200,000. If the Italians fail to pay the fine by 24 September 2024, they could face a two-year prison sentence.
Source: BBC
