Loris rescued again, when will the trade stop?

Within the first week of January 2008 the WFFT hotline was called several times asking for help in rescuing wild animals. Two cases that were brought to our attention concerned the hand-over of lorises (both pygmy loris and slow loris). In both cases it were lorises that were bought from Chatuchak market, one – the slow loris – was bought two years ago and the owner was unhappy with the animal as it was sleeping all day, we feel that is quite normal for a nocturnal animal. The second one (the pygmy loris) was bought as a pet as well only a few days before but was showing signs of sickness and stress. The owner did not feel the animal belonged in a house and browsed the internet to find a rehabilitation center for the little animal.

Unfortunately the trade in loris for the pet trade is still continuing. Over the last years we received over 50 lorises and most have been reintroduced back to the wild. However the reintroduction is not the way to solve the problem of this poaching of loris and the illegal trade. We need to push for enforcement of the laws and engage in more education projects to protect these small creatures…