Slow Loris Found in Bangkok Arrives at WFFT

Last week the team at Thai Animal Guardians Association called WFFT for help with a slow loris that had been found on the outskirts of Bangkok in the garden of a member of the public. The WFFT Team headed up to Bangkok to collect the loris and bring him back to the WFFT Wildlife Hospital. This displaced Bengal slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis) seems to have lost his way and was far away from his natural forest habitat.

The Bengal Slow Loris is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This is due to loss of habitat and severe pressures from hunting, there is more than 30% reduction in population over three generations. The species is predicted to decline by more than 30% in the next three generations over its entire range due to continuing hunting pressures and loss of habitat. The major threats that this species’ habitat faces include farming, timber removal, human settlement, road building, dams, power lines, fragmentations, soil loss and erosion, and deliberately set fires. They are hunted and traded for food, traditional “medicine”, sport, and as pets

This loris will stay at WFFT for a short time to observe his health and behavior before he is deemed healthy enough to return to the wild. WFFT apposes the keeping of wildlife as pets sadly the keeping of slow lorises is becoming more and more common. We will continue to try and educate people on the problems facing this increasingly endangered prosimian primate and why it is never appropriate to keep them as pets.