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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.

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