Special Topic: The Pet Trade and the Slow Loris

Introduction

With the rise of social media and the cultural push to post the best photos has led to many novelty experiences. Among this experience one of the most popular is the photo prop pet trade, this trade is found in many countries and focuses on using wildlife as photo props for tourists. These animal photo props can be found in many places such as the raccoon cafes in Japan, and the big cat cub photoshoots that can happen in some roadside zoos. These attractions often focus on cute or beautiful animals, which are generally considered harmless. This makes many species of small primates susceptible to being trafficked in this way. This and the public opinion on keeping these animals as pets can be seen in the journal entry “Tickled to Death: Analysing Public Perceptions of ‘Cute’ Videos of Threatened Species (Slow Lorises – Nycticebus spp.) on Web 2.0 Sites” 

The Bengal slow loris is one of the most common animals found in the photo prop pet trade, with their huge eyes and unique appearance many people find these animals very appealing for photo opportunity. This trade with species of loris specifically is most popular in Thailand where celebrities can be seen posing with the illegally captured primates. One of the most famous examples is Rihanna and her photo with a slow loris which later led to the poacher's arrest. Along with habitat loss the photo prop pet trade is one of the two leading causes of risk and extinction among all species of loris.  



The Pet Trade

To make the loris safe for pet owners, poachers will take fingernail cutters or plyers and will forcibly remove the canines of the animal making it unable to defend itself this is done without antiseptics or anesthetics and often done in the animals' infancy. “Illegally-traded animals routinely have their anterior teeth inhumanely clipped out by vendors, a practice that inhibits release of animals back to the wild and often results in their death [21], [22].” (Nekaris, K. A.-I., Campbell, N., Coggins, T. G., Rode, E. J., & Nijman, V. 2013) This means that the animal is aware and feeling during the entire process. Loris’ will also be held in small cages with several others which when taken into account their large territory range and solitary lifestyle causes an immense amount of stress on the primate. 

The popularization of small animals being used as photo props can be seen on social media platforms, especially ones such as Instagram. Many times, the ignorance of the animal's behavior is used for the gain of views on the photos and videos. When frightened the Bengal slow loris will lift its hands above its head, this is not only to make it appear bigger but also because it has venom glands in its elbows that it will lick in order to defend itself. Many popular videos featuring the Bengal slow loris will show a human touching the animal and the animal responding by raising its hands. These videos are often captioned as the loris enjoying being tickled when in reality the animal is incredibly terrified and without its canine teeth is unable to coat itself in its venom to protect itself. Such as all other animals, chromic stress is “Cute” videos of these animals also leads to the increase desire to have them in captivity. Once a loris is successfully imported out of Asia there are not many laws in place to punish the poachers, in fact many states in the U.S. do not even have laws requiring a permit to own these animals.

Article Review and the Future

The article does a good job of conveying why the photo prop pet trade is so bad for wildlife especially in areas like Asia which have an incredibly sensitive ecosystem and a high concentration of threatened species. It also discusses the issues in video/image sharing platforms like YouTube and Instagram promoting these animals as cute and cuddly and how this only drives the species further into endangered statuses and extinction. It also does look on the brighter side of things like how many people on YouTube will use their platform to raise awareness for conservation. Instagram now has a feature when looking up these popularly trafficked animals informing the viewer that the videos they have seen likely are the result of poaching for the exotic pet trade, or that animal abuse is likely involved.  It also then links to several sources where the viewer can learn more and help in conservation efforts.




The internet has undoubtedly harmed many species of animals through its drive for views and profit, but it has also begun to make a positive turn. With many conservation channels on YouTube gaining millions of subscribers and Instagram's endangered animal policies there is hope for these species to gain attention and with this new attention a boost in effort for conserving them. The Bengal slow loris is not yet safe, but with these new efforts hopefully their populations will increase.  

Works Cited

Kitson, H., & Nekaris, K. A. I. (2017). Instagram-fuelled illegal slow loris trade uncovered in Marmaris, Turkey. Oryx, 51(3), 394–394. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605317000680

Maria, M., Shimu, M. S. A., & Al-Razi, H. (2025). Live non-human primate trafficking in Bangladesh: A growing threat to the remaining populations. Zoologia (Curitiba, Brazil), 42. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1984-4689.v42.e24047

Nekaris, K. A.-I., Campbell, N., Coggins, T. G., Rode, E. J., & Nijman, V. (2013). Tickled to Death: Analysing Public Perceptions of “Cute” Videos of Threatened Species (Slow Lorises - Nycticebus spp.) on Web 2.0 Sites. PloS One, 8(7), e69215–e69215. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069215

Strier, K. B. (2021). Primate behavioral ecology (Sixth edition.). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.


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