Four ‘Pet’ Slow Loris Arrive

Two days we received four adult Bengal slow lorises (Nycticebus bengalensis) from a man who had been taking care of them after they were left in his care after his relationship ended with his previous girlfriend, who was the owner of the lorises. Meet ‘Fat’ (M), ‘Leo’ (M), ‘Martin’ (M), and ‘Lucky’ (F) who have been kept as pets for approximately 2 years. It appears that 3 of the lorises have had their canines removed, this is a common practice to prevent serious bite injuries to the people that are handling them. The man in question did all he could to care for the lorises, he had kept them in a specially created enclosure, and fed them the best diet he could. He knew it was wrong to keep wild animals as pets and had decided that WFFT could offer a better future for these animals.

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.

For now, these little ones are settling into life at WFFT. We will be creating a special large area to keep the group of friends together. Lucky had a rather large stomach so it was assumed that she is pregnant, so yesterday she was taken to a vet clinic for an x-ray, this determined that she is actually pregnant. Lucky will have to stay away from the boys to avoid any conflict when she gives birth. The males will be unable to go back to the wild due to them missing their canines but who knows what the future holds for Lucky and her unborn baby? We will keep you updated on their progress.