COLOMBO: A nationwide blackout in Sri Lanka over the weekend left millions without electricity, with officials blaming an unlikely culprit—a monkey.
The outage, which struck around midday on Sunday, disrupted homes and businesses as temperatures soared. Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody stated that a monkey had come into contact with a grid transformer, triggering an imbalance that shut down large parts of the power system.
Emergency teams scrambled to restore electricity, giving priority to hospitals and water purification facilities. While some areas saw power return within hours, many households remained in the dark well into the night.
Sri Lanka’s energy infrastructure has been a long-standing concern, with experts warning about its aging and fragile nature. This incident has once again highlighted the urgent need for modernization.
Adding to the issue, Sri Lanka has a significant monkey population, particularly the toque macaque species, which numbers around three million. These primates frequently cause property damage, disrupt power lines, and raid crops. In 2023, the government even considered exporting 100,000 of them to China to control their population.
The Ceylon Electricity Board, the country’s largest power provider, issued an apology for the inconvenience caused by the unexpected blackout. However, there was no official update on the fate of the monkey responsible for the disruption.
This latest incident has reignited debates about the country’s energy security and wildlife management, with many calling for better safeguards to prevent such disruptions in the future.
