7738 IAR rescuer leaflet 18 hr 148x210 16pp HR
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<strong>IAR</strong> <strong>rescuer</strong> <strong>leaflet</strong> <strong>18</strong>.qxp_Layout 1 01/08/20<strong>18</strong> 10:20 Page 5<br />
TACKLING THE TRADE IN SLOW LORISES<br />
In recent years, undercover investigations and prosecutions by<br />
the police, coupled with community awareness-raising activities<br />
by our team in Indonesia, have led to a reduction in the number<br />
of slow lorises for sale in the animal markets. However, at the<br />
same time there has been a noticeable increase in the number<br />
being sold via social media. Social network platforms are<br />
increasingly being used by wildlife smugglers for their illegal<br />
trading activities.<br />
In September 2017 nine<br />
Sumatran slow lorises were<br />
recovered after police<br />
dismantled a<br />
criminal online<br />
network using<br />
Facebook to sell<br />
wildlife illegally.<br />
The two<br />
perpetrators<br />
were arrested<br />
and taken to<br />
the police<br />
headquarters in<br />
West Sumatra.<br />
The nine slow<br />
lorises, including<br />
a mother and<br />
baby, were<br />
assessed and<br />
treated by our<br />
team, who had<br />
been present at the<br />
seizure. The little<br />
primates were in<br />
reasonable condition, but<br />
severely distressed. Sadly,<br />
one further loris had died,<br />
perhaps as a result of suffocation after<br />
being confined in a cramped, airless box by the traffickers.<br />
Slow lorises destined to be sold as pets have their teeth cut out<br />
to make them easier to handle. This brutal practice often causes<br />
serious infections, leading to the death of many of them t<strong>hr</strong>ough<br />
starvation or septicaemia. However, the teeth of the nine<br />
survivors were intact. They were also still displaying wild<br />
behaviour, indicating that they might have only recently been<br />
caught and could therefore be released into a safe area of forest<br />
once they had recovered from their ordeal.