In Sri Lanka, poultry loss caused by wild cat and carnivore predation is one of the biggest problems in villages situated adjacent to protected areas. As a result, many carnivores get killed or injured annually due to retaliatory killing by community members facing economical constrains caused by the loss of their poultry.
Through this project, we will be surveying problematic areas with the aim of providing active threat mitigation solutions for communities facing human-carnivore conflict. So far, we have selected 20 low-income families in four villages in the Central Hills and will be providing predator-proof chicken coops to these families. The 20 families will also become ambassadors for our future threat mitigation programs.
The Chicken Bank Program is a pilot initiative that will be conducted alongside the Chicken Coop Program. Through this program we will donate a number of chickens, and a large predator-proof coop to a selected individual in our target location. The aim of this project is to provide a free chicken to any community member who loses a chicken to wild predators. In return, the borrower will donate a chicken back to the Chicken Bank on a later date, creating a self-sustaining supply of poultry.
This project will be highly dependent on the mutual understanding and trust between villagers and SCAR. By replacing lost chicken through the Chicken Bank, we are asking community members to not predators that kill their poultry.
