Saturday, October 16, 2010

Weekend bring down



Slow Loris loves getting tickled but he's pissed off about the impact of the pet trade on his endangered species. This video went viral a year or so back but the emphasis was, naturally, on the cuteness of the slow loris rather than the conservation implications of the pet trade.

The BBC article linked to above claims that a slow loris will cost you between $1,500 and $4,500 in Japan. It would be interesting to know if this changed following the uplisting from Appendix 2 to Appendix 1 within the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).I'd look into it but the article was just too depressing. Sorry for harshing your weekend buzz.

1 comment:

Lauren Argue said...

You would think that because these species were worth so much money that they would make more of an effort to transport them more safely, therefore ensuring that more of them survive the trip over seas. Killing an already endangered species by a means of irresponsible transport is not only cruel, but it is also stupid because they are loosing possible profits. And furthermore, because money id obviously these people's main concern, it just seems odd to mean that maintaining the well-being of their illegal Slow Loris's before trade isn't one of their concerns.

Also, this probably isn't the best time to say I would LOVE to have a Slow Loris. So cute!

-Lauren Argue