Conservationists release graphic campaign video exposing the truth about the illegal trade in slow lorises.
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Conservationists release graphic video exposing the truth behind the illegal trade in slow lorises.
Video:
A conservation charity has released a powerful new campaign video to raise awareness of the plight of slow lorises being kept illegally as pets. Five years on from its ‘Tickling is Torture’ video, International Animal Rescue (IAR) has produced a sequel, once again with a voiceover by actor and animal advocate Peter Egan.
The video has been produced in response to the growing number of videos emerging on social media platforms TikTok and Instagram showing slow lorises being kept in people’s homes as though they are domestic pets.
Graphic footage illustrates that, before the lorises are sold, the traders cut out their teeth to make them easier to handle. Many of the little primates die from blood loss or infection as a result of this barbaric practice.
IAR urges viewers to sign the pledge on the www.ticklingistorture.org website in support of the campaign and also to share the video as widely as possible on social media.
Alan Knight OBE, IAR Chief Executive, said: “Hundreds of thousands of people have already signed the pledge never to support or encourage the illegal trade in slow lorises. And yet still there are those who think it is acceptable to keep a wild slow loris cooped up in a cage in a domestic environment, feed it on completely unsuitable food that will leave it malnourished and may even kill it – and then parade the poor loris on social media, portraying it as cute and funny, when really its situation is desperately sad.
“The Javan slow loris is among the world’s 25 most endangered primates. It is shocking that in spite of laws to protect slow lorises, people still keep them as pets and display them online for all the world to see. In an ideal world, social media platforms like TikTok would remove such blatant examples of animal exploitation. Let’s hope that eventually they will do the right thing and take them down. In the meantime, we would urge everyone to sign the pledge and share our video in order to spread the word as widely as possible.”
Ends.
For further information please contact Lis Key at IAR on +44 7957 824379. www.internationalanimalrescue.org/slow-loris-sanctuary
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A captive slow loris in a market in Jakarta has its teeth clipped before it is put up for sale.
About Us
Our vision is a world where humans and animals coexist in sustainable ecosystems. Our mission is to build awareness and implement effective systems so that habitats and animals are protected.
At International Animal Rescue we not only save animals from suffering, we also rehabilitate and release them back into the wild and work to protect their precious natural habitats. Our work includes cutting free and caring for captive bears in India and Armenia, rescuing and rehabilitating orangutans and other primates in Indonesia and treating injured and orphaned howler monkeys in Costa Rica. Our aim is to return animals to their natural environment wherever possible, but we also provide a permanent home for those that can no longer fend for themselves.
As human populations expand, wildlife comes under increasing threat. By rescuing individual animals belonging to species like the orangutan and reintroducing them into protected areas in the wild, our work also plays a role in the conservation of the species as a whole.
Contacts
Lis Key
Media and Communications
lis@internationalanimalrescue.orgPhone: 07957 824379 Mobile: 07957 824379