Hailing from South and Southeast Asia, the nocturnal Slow Loris is unfortunately a highly trafficked prosimian. Current Thai laws are in place to protect the Slow Loris; however, the reality of the situation is one of trafficking throughout the region. These cute, but toxic, animals are trafficked to meet the rising demands within the pet, tourism and Chinese medicine businesses. With the rise in popularity of slow loris’ as pets and photo props, there has been a high number of cases in which captive lorises have had their anterior teeth removed to make the handling of them easier. In addition to this, they face extreme malnutrition as people are unaware of their gumviorous diets. Once rescued, the lorises often struggle to be returned to the wild due to the lack of anterior teeth for self-defense. At the current level it is likely we will see slow lorises go extinct from the wild in the future. The extinction of the slow loris will have devastating effects on its entire ecosystem due to their role in seed dispersal and pollination. Through the #SAVETHELORIS campaign, we hope to save the lorises from extinction, prevent cruel practices associated with illegal wildlife trade, and promote responsible tourism. We look to a combination of research, education and rehabilitation.For us, education is a vital way of ensuring the long-term health of the slow loris species. Through our education programs, school talks and Youth Ecological Network (YEN) we hope to encourage conservation of the slow loris and inform a wider audience of their plight.Additionally, we are working with Thai Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) to ensure that slow lorises are free in their natural habitat and optimize the well-being of slow lorises that have been captive/ confiscated.The rehabilitation process for the slow loris’ includes medical treatment for tooth infections and malnutrition, with a part-time vet visiting the center on a weekly basis for routine treatments and check-ups. As well as a part-time vet we have a full-time vet nurse at the center who is on call for the continuous treatment and monitoring on the loris’ in our care. The vet nurse is also on hand to feed the loris’ twice in the night and play peacekeeper to prevent fights and further injuries.

We believe that prevention is the key in helping this species and do so through our education and outreach programs to teach kids and adults about the illegal trade and responsible pet ownership for legal exotics. In the long term we hope to rehabilitate the slow lorises in our care and send them back into their natural habitat when they are ready to fend for themselves. Our campaign will see us microchip the loris’ to monitor the health of the loris’ when out in the wild. But more importantly our aim is to educate people on the correct treatment of slow loris’; with our #SAVETHELORIS creating a greater awareness of their plight. Additionally, we would like influence policy to create harsher sentences for those who traffic them across the region.