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Lady Gaga
gets bitten by venomous primate, sparking outrage over loris trafficking
Lady Gaga
gets bitten by venomous primate, sparking outrage over loris trafficking
Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com
February 25, 2014
February 25, 2014
Slow loris expert: Lady Gaga may have put herself in danger by handling
venomous, endangered primate
Last week, the musical artist, Lady Gaga, was "nipped" by the
world's only venomous primate, a slow loris, in a misguided attempt to use the
animal in a new music video. After it bit the musician, the idea of using the
primate in the video was dropped. This was just as well, according to loris
expert Anna Nekaris, who says that slow lorises
have become increasingly endangered worldwide by the illegal pet trade after
people have seen them on YouTube videos.
"Slow lorises are one of the most sought after illegal exotic pets. As it is extremely difficult to breed them in captivity, these fragile animals are culled from the wild in unsustainable numbers and are kept as pets within Asia as well as shipped illegally around the world," Nekaris, founder of the Little Fireface Project which works to study and conserve slow lorises, told mongabay.com.
In order to obtain a slow loris for the illegal wildlife trade, poachers steal them from the wild. Slow loris in captivity are usually unable to clean themselves properly and are thus covered in urine and feces. The poachers usually pull out the sharp loris teeth using pliers to make them more palpable to pet owners. Such harsh tactics, combined with unsuitable diets, mean many slow lorises die even before they are sold.
"Slow lorises are one of the most sought after illegal exotic pets. As it is extremely difficult to breed them in captivity, these fragile animals are culled from the wild in unsustainable numbers and are kept as pets within Asia as well as shipped illegally around the world," Nekaris, founder of the Little Fireface Project which works to study and conserve slow lorises, told mongabay.com.
In order to obtain a slow loris for the illegal wildlife trade, poachers steal them from the wild. Slow loris in captivity are usually unable to clean themselves properly and are thus covered in urine and feces. The poachers usually pull out the sharp loris teeth using pliers to make them more palpable to pet owners. Such harsh tactics, combined with unsuitable diets, mean many slow lorises die even before they are sold.
Nekaris is not sure how the animal trainer in question got hold of this
particular slow loris, but it's possible, perhaps even likely, that the animal
was obtained in just such a way. Slow lorises are notoriously difficult to
breed in captivity, so that the overwhelming majority held as pets are taken
from the wild.
"I am aware of some professional animal handlers either obtaining a slow loris illegally through smuggling or buying a Slow loris from a reputed professional breeder. But again, these animals are so difficult to breed in the wild, the likelihood that was wildborn seems more likely," she said. Currently, all eight species of slow loris are considered threatened with extinction.
A slew of YouTube videos has highlighted slow lorises as cute pets, fueling the illegal trade. But these are wild animals with specialized diets, nocturnal habits, and dangerous bites. In the case of Lady Gaga, she may have actually been putting herself in danger by handling the poisonous animal.
"[The slow loris] bite never evolved to kill a human, but many people are sensitive to the toxin, and a bite can result in anaphylactic shock and death," Nekaris told mongabay.com. "Many such cases are anecdotal -- that is a bitten person never felt the need to publish it in a medical journal...but in almost all areas where I have studied slow lorisES there are reports that people have died or lost body parts (e.g. finger or half an arm!) from the bite. At the very best, the wounds take weeks to heal."
"I am aware of some professional animal handlers either obtaining a slow loris illegally through smuggling or buying a Slow loris from a reputed professional breeder. But again, these animals are so difficult to breed in the wild, the likelihood that was wildborn seems more likely," she said. Currently, all eight species of slow loris are considered threatened with extinction.
A slew of YouTube videos has highlighted slow lorises as cute pets, fueling the illegal trade. But these are wild animals with specialized diets, nocturnal habits, and dangerous bites. In the case of Lady Gaga, she may have actually been putting herself in danger by handling the poisonous animal.
"[The slow loris] bite never evolved to kill a human, but many people are sensitive to the toxin, and a bite can result in anaphylactic shock and death," Nekaris told mongabay.com. "Many such cases are anecdotal -- that is a bitten person never felt the need to publish it in a medical journal...but in almost all areas where I have studied slow lorisES there are reports that people have died or lost body parts (e.g. finger or half an arm!) from the bite. At the very best, the wounds take weeks to heal."
However, it appears that Lady Gaga and her crew were largely ignorant of
the animal's endangered status and its venomous bite.
"The slow loris is the cutest creature on the planet, and Lady Gaga wanted to use it in one scene, but it nipped her. They put it back in its box and took it away in disgrace," an anonymous source told Page Six.
Nekaris said Lady Gaga, who reportedly laughed off the incident, could now do slow lorises a good turn by speaking out for the threatened primates.
"Lady Gaga could admit that she had not realized how endangered the slow loris is. She also might note that she had seen many YouTube videos and had not realized that the animals in those videos were illegal and wildcaught."
"The slow loris is the cutest creature on the planet, and Lady Gaga wanted to use it in one scene, but it nipped her. They put it back in its box and took it away in disgrace," an anonymous source told Page Six.
Nekaris said Lady Gaga, who reportedly laughed off the incident, could now do slow lorises a good turn by speaking out for the threatened primates.
"Lady Gaga could admit that she had not realized how endangered the slow loris is. She also might note that she had seen many YouTube videos and had not realized that the animals in those videos were illegal and wildcaught."
The
public can help slow lorises by demanding that YouTube remove the videos of
pet slow lorises and support conservation groups working with the threatened
primates, according to Nekaris. People can also "write to their local
embassies, particularly of Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand, requesting harsh
penalties for slow loris traders, noting they will not give tourism revenue to
countries that advocate the draining of their wild heritage," she said.
