Department of Wildlife Conservation (Sri Lanka)

Department of Wildlife Conservation
වනජිවි සංරක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව
வனசீவராசிகள் பாதுகாப்பு
Agency overview
FormedOctober 1949; 75 years ago (1949-10)
(as the Wildlife Department)
Preceding agencies
JurisdictionGovernment of Sri Lanka
Headquarters811/A Jayanthipura Road, Battaramulla
6°53′50″N 79°55′11″E / 6.897154°N 79.919845°E / 6.897154; 79.919845
Employees1,826 (2017)[1][2]
Annual budgetරු 5.204 billion (2017)[1]
Minister responsible
  • C.B. Rathnayake
Agency executive
  • Chandana Sooriyabandara, Director General
Parent departmentMinistry of Environment and Wildlife Resources
Key document
Websitedwc.gov.lk

The Department of Wildlife Conservation (Sinhala: වනජීවී සංරක්‍ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව Vanajivi Sanrakshana Departhamenthuwa) is a non-ministerial government department in Sri Lanka. It is the government department responsible for maintaining national parks, nature reserves and wildlife in wilderness areas in Sri Lanka.[3] Forest reserves and wilderness areas are maintained by the Department of Forest Conservation.[4] The head of the department is the Director General of Wildlife Conservation, formally known as Warden. It was established in October 1949 with Captain Cyril Nicholas, MC as its first Warden.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference PATL17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Budget Estimates 2017- Volume 3: Fiscal Year 2017". treasury.gov.lk. Ministry of Finance. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  3. ^ "The economic value of elephants in Sri Lanka for tourism | Daily FT". www.ft.lk. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  4. ^ "Wildlife officers capture "violent" leopard in Panama". Sri Lanka News - Newsfirst. 2021-01-03. Retrieved 2021-01-13.