We have recently received a shocking video from our friends at Animals Indonesia showing a slow loris having its teeth cut in a bird market in South Sumatra. Unfortunately the cruel act of cutting a slow loris’ teeth with nail clippers, wire cutters or removing them completely with pliers is a very common practice in the slow loris pet trade and is done to make the endangered primates ‘tame’ and easier to handle.
This practice results in severe bleeding which can cause shock or death and frequently leads to infection which is fatal in 90% of cases.
The popular videos on Youtube showing the slow loris being ‘tickled’ or holding an umbrella fuels the public’s interest in keeping slow lorises as pets. The video of the slow loris being tickled has had over 5 million views, with many commentators saying they would like one as a pet and enquiring where they can get one. If people continue to buy these endangered animals as pets, more slow lorises will be plucked from the wild and have their teeth cut in the same way as this poor loris in the video.
We ask our supporters to share this message and not to share the ‘cute’ videos that are still circulating on Youtube despite protests to have them removed.
WARNING: upsetting and graphic content of a slow loris in distress having its teeth cut
Animals Indonesia have supplied us with this upsetting video of a slow loris having its teeth cut for the pet trade. Slow lorises are very cute animals and this is why thousands of slow lorises are poached from the wild and illegally sold on the street or in animal markets. The lorises’ teeth are clipped off by the traders to make them easy to handle, resulting in the death of many of them from blood loss or infection before they are sold.
Please share this to raise awareness of the poor slow lorises’ plight, and credit Animals Indonesia.