Exotic pet trade

With gaping eyes and silky-soft fur, these adorable creatures have become a YouTube sensation and a must-have pet. But their popularity threatened their very survival. Captured by illegal traders and kept in hideous conditions, many of them end up suffering from stress-related illnesses, dehydration, malnutrition and even dental problems as some had had their teeth cut even before reaching the markets. Small and gentle, they were crammed by their kidnappers into suffocatingly small crates and starved of food.

Targeted: It is the largest number pf the highly sought-after creatures rescued by International Animal Rescue

This is just a typical day in the illegal pet trade of slow lorises. Kept in harsh and hostile environments, some of the slow lorises don’t even make it to the market alive, with many others dying later on from complications such as infection.

Even within their countries of origin, slow lorises are very popular exotic pets. Indonesian species are mostly sold as pets, despite myths about their magical and curative properties. They are seen as a “living toy” for children by local people or are bought out of pity by Western tourists or expatriates. Neither local nor foreign buyers usually know anything about these primates, their endangered status, or that the trade is illegal.

Slow lorises are particularly vulnerable as they freeze when spotted. Since they cling to branches instead of fleeing, they are often transported hundreds of miles on the original tree branches to which they clung. International trade usually results in a high mortality rate during transit of between 30% and 90%. Slow lorises experience many health problems as a result of both local and international trade. To give the impression that the primates are tame and appropriate pets for children, to protect people from their potentially toxic bite, or to deceive buyers into thinking the animal is a baby, animal dealers either pull the front teeth with pliers or wire cutters or they cut them off with nail cutters.

A small, young slow loris is gripped by its limbs while its front teeth are cut with fingernail cutter

Picture credit to International Animal Rescue.

This results in severe bleeding, which sometimes causes shock or death, and frequently leads to dental infection, which is fatal in 90% of all cases. Without their teeth, the animals are no longer able to fend for themselves in the wild, and must remain in captivity for life. The slow lorises found in animal markets are usually underweight and malnourished, and have had their fur dyed, which complicates species identification at rescue centers. As many as 95% of the slow lorises rescued from the markets die of dental infection or improper care.

Furthermore, knowledge on how to properly handle these animals are sadly lacking in the trade, resulting in many deaths which could have been prevented. For instance, slow lorises have a special network of blood vessels in their hands and feet, which makes them vulnerable to cuts when pulled from the wire cages they are kept in. They are also very stress-sensitive and do not do well in captivity. Infection, stress, pneumonia, and poor nutrition lead to high death rates among pet lorises. As part of the trade, infants are pulled prematurely from their parents, leaving them unable to remove their own urine, feces, and oily skin secretions from their fur, greatly increasing their risks of infection. The diets of wild slow lorises are also poorly understood, with many of them exhibiting signs of an inappropriate diet in captivity such as tooth decay, diabetes, obesity, and kidney failure. Pet owners also fail to provide proper care because they are often sleeping when the nocturnal pet is normally awake.