The Department of Wildlife Conservation ( Sinhala: වනජීවී සංරක්‍ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ''Vanajivi Sanrakshana Departhamenthuwa'') is a

non-ministerial government department Non-ministerial government departments (NMGDs) are a type of department of the United Kingdom government that deal with matters for which direct political oversight has been judged unnecessary or inappropriate. They are headed by senior civil se ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It is the government department responsible for maintaining

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

s, nature reserves and wildlife in wilderness areas in Sri Lanka. Forest reserves and wilderness areas are maintained by the Department of Forest Conservation. The head of the Department is the Director General of Wildlife Conservation, formally known as ''Warden''. It was established in October 1949 with

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Cyril Nicholas, MC as its first Warden.

Personal

Head quarters

The department is headed by the Director General of Wildlife Conservation, with it headquarters located in

Battaramulla Battaramulla is a suburb of Colombo, situated from the city centre at Colombo Fort, near the Parliament of Sri Lanka. It is one of the fastest developing administrative, commercial and residential areas in the Colombo District, being home to the ...

. The head office is made up of several divisions covering operations and administration under the preview of Directors, Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors.

Field deployments

Each province as an Assistant Director assigned to it with an office located within the province. The Elephant Transit Home and Training Center has an Assistant Director in charge of each. The department deploys a large number of field officers and personal to manage and protect the wildlife in the national parks. They have law enforcement powers under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance and the Fire Arms Ordinance. They operate range offices and beat offices. The field carder grades include; ; Field carder * Park Warden (Officer in charge of a National Park) * Wildlife Ranger * Wildlife Range Assistant * Wildlife Guard (who also serve as trackers)

List of national parks administered by the Department

List of nature reserves

* Vidataltivu Nature Reserve

Conservation centers under the Department

* Udawalawe Elephant Transit Centre

References

External links

Department of Wildlife Conservation, Sri LankaDepartment of animal protection and health Sri LankaVeterinary public health Sri Lanka
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Wildlife Conservation Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems. Major threats to wildlife include habita ...

* Wildlife conservation organizations

Wildlife conservation in Sri Lanka Environmental organisations based in Sri Lanka