An Italian father and his son have been fined 60 million Sri Lankan rupees ($200,000) for trying to smuggle hundreds of endemic insects – including 92 species of butterflies – out of a safari park, the BBC reports.
Rangers at Yala National Park arrested Luigi Ferrari, 68, and his 28-year-old son Mattia on 8 May this year after they were found with jars containing the insects.
The men had lured the insects with animal attractants and planned on using wax sachets to chemically preserve them, investigations show.
They were convicted in early September of illegal collection, possession and transportation of the insects, and handed the highest-ever fine for wildlife crime in the country.
Yala National Park, located in the country’s south-east, is one of Sri Lanka’s most popular wildlife parks, home to a high concentration of leopards, elephants and buffalos, among other animals.
