There are many people who have never heard of the Slow Loris, and if they have, they don't even recognize the creature by name. The Slow Loris is a nocturnal primate found in the jungle of Southeast Asia. It is a seemingly adorable animal, one with large eyes that nearly take up half its face. However, the Slow Loris has gone viral. And its popularity is leading to its death and extinction.
In the 2000s, people took to the Internet to share excruciatingly sweet videos of their pet Slow Lorises acting in various way; eating fruit, posing with a small cocktail umbrella above its head, and one of the most popular, raising its arms above its head as it is being tickled.
What people do not know about this small, wide-eyed animal, is that thousands are captured each year from their homes in the wild and tortured before they are sold as pets. Many of them do not even make it to the market, as they die in the brutal conditions beforehand. A professor at Oxford Brookes University, and the leading author of a paper titled "Tickled to Death," Anna Nekaris writes on her website that, "[Slow lorises are] shoved into plastic crates and bags; their teeth are clipped out with crude mechanisms with no anesthesia, no aftercare, no medicine, and most die; multiple animals are transported in crates where they wound each other with their venomous bites; market conditions are inhumane, boiling hot, and cruel, with no proper food fed to the animals."
The animals that survive then begin the torture process. They have their teeth clipped out, without using any anesthetic, which ends up killing even more of the Slow Lorises due to infection or blood loss, and as mentioned by Anna Nekaris, many suffer in the extreme conditions.
So where does the idea that "tickling is torture" come in? Well, the popular video of a Slow Loris raising its arms above its head as it is being tickled apparently has a deeper meaning. When Slow Lorises are frightened, they raise their arms in order to activate venom glands in their elbows, which are then mixed with their saliva before they go to bite their predator. The U.K. based charity "International Animal Rescue" has begun a campaign in order to end the "liking" and "sharing" of Slow Loris videos online in hopes of boycotting the illegal act of capturing and keeping Slow Lorises as pets. The name for their campaign? Well, it has been coined as "Tickling is Torture."
If you think that the suffering stops there for the Slow Loris, then sadly, you are mistaken. Slow Lorises are nocturnal, and the bright fluorescent lights that they are daily exposed to are bad for their eyes. Many are forced to live a solitary life, which is devastating for such social animals. Furthermore, the Slow Loris travels long distances through the treetops at night, and being confined to a cage day after day is terrible for its health. With a mixture of confinement to a small area, and improper diet, they are prone to diabetes, obesity, and rotting teeth.
The best option? Leave the animals alone, in the forest where they belong. As time goes on, the Slow Loris is becoming more and more endangered, and if the Slow Loris pet trade continues, they will soon become extinct. To help the situation of the Slow Loris, take the pledge at International Animal Rescue's website, to end the liking and sharing of Slow Loris videos.
For more information, visit International Animal Rescue's website for the campaign, and to view the video.
