Bangkok--14 Sep--FREELAND Foundation
Acting on information from FREELAND Foundation, the Royal Thai Police arrested a suspect in Pattaya yesterday for illegally selling Slow Lorises and seized seven of the protected animals, along with eight Sugar Gliders. The arrest was the latest result in an ongoing investigation by the Royal Thai Police Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division (NRECD), which also nabbed a dealer in Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market on the 27th of August, 2010.
More than ten Slow Lorises have been seized during the two-month long investigation, including babies and Pygmy Slow Lorises, which are not endemic to Thailand — indicating they were poached and illegally shipped from another country (Slow Lorises are extremely difficult to breed in captivity). Information obtained by FREELAND Foundation suggests the same international smuggling ring is involved in supplying traders in Pattaya and Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market, both popular tourist destinations in Thailand.
“This case can serve as a model for cooperation between government and non-government organizations working to stop wildlife crime,” said Col. Kiattipong Khawsamang of the Royal Thai Police. “Information and support from FREELAND Foundation proved crucial to the success of the case.”
“We congratulate the Royal Thai Police on the apprehension of these illegal traders, particularly the efforts to gather evidence to build a strong case against not just one trader; but an entire ring,“ said FREELAND Foundation Director Steve Galster. “We support police plans to continue this investigation to find other connections to the ring that extends between Bangkok, Pattaya and other places.
If convicted, the arrested traders face up to four years imprisonment and a fine of up to THB 40,000 (USD 1,250) for violating Thailand’s Wild Animal Reservation and Preservation Act B.E.2535 (illegally processing protected animals and illegally importing wildlife) and Customs Act B.E.2469 (illegally importing smuggled goods).
While the extensive investigation and associated arrests were designed and sponsored by Thai Police, the team responsible for the operations benefitted from training arranged by the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN WEN), sponsored in part by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and FREELAND Foundation.
Southeast Asia is a major source of illegally traded wildlife, supplying a global black-market worth an estimated USD 10-30 billion annually. Authorities are strengthening inter-agency and international cooperation through the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) to respond to this illicit trans-national trade, which threatens to drive many endangered species to extinction.
Photo caption: A Pygmy Slow Loris recovered from the illegal trade is checked by veterinarians from Thailand’s Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (Chanadda Thanikulapat / FREELAND)
Tourists, Pet Owners Buy Into Cruel and Illicit Loris Trade
One of the most appealing animals on the planet may be wiped out due to unrelenting demand from the pet trade. Often bought as a pet for children, the reclusive Slow Loris is a small nocturnal mammal poached from forests in Southeast and South Asia. Despite treaties agreed by a majority of the World’s governments banning trade of the rapidly declining species, they are being trafficked internationally in large numbers. Hidden to avoid detection, many Slow Lorises don’t survive transit and others die because owners do not know how to care for them properly.
The latest group of Slow Lorises seized at Chatuchak Market were delivered into the care of Thailand’s Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. However, the animals are unlikely to ever be released into the wild, due to the practice of poachers and traders removing or filing down their canine teeth, impairing their ability to hunt and eat, while neutralizing their only defense mechanism — a toxic bite.
In Thailand, Slow Lorises are sold in tourist areas for USD 200-600 each. Recent Customs seizures indicate that key foreign markets for Slow Lorises include Japan, Russia, and the United States. In March 2008, Thai Authorities detained a Russian national at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport with 20 live baby Slow Lorises and other protected animals packed in his baggage. Regular airport seizures of Slow Loris in Thailand, Japan and other countries are believed to expose just a fraction of international trafficking of the species.
Many consumers are unaware where their pet Slow Loris has come from, the illegality of the trade, or the precarious state of wild populations. Thailand’s FREELAND Foundation and other wildlife conservation groups are working to change that by raising awareness in schools and amongst the general public of the impact consumer demand for endangered wildlife has on biodiversity and the environment. A Slow Loris recovered from the illegal trade starred in FREELAND’s “Wildlife Trafficking Stops Here” Public Service Announcement, which aired globally on CNN last year.
There are five species of vulnerable and endangered Slow Loris: the Bengal Slow Loris (Nycticebus bengalensis), Greater Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang), Javan Slow Loris (Nycticebus javanicus), Bornean Slow Loris (Nycticebus menagensis), and Pygmy Slow Loris (Nycticebus pygmaeus). They are native to in tropical evergreen rainforests throughout Southeast and South Asia. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, all wild populations of Slow Loris are decreasing. Slow Loris are listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), banning their trade.
For more information and high-resolution photographs, contact FREELAND Media Liaison Seamas McCaffrey on +66 2 204 2719 or +66 8 4940 6553 or
[email protected]
FREELAND Foundation is an international organization dedicated to ending the illegal wildlife trade, conserving natural habitats and protecting human rights. FREELAND works throughout Asia, raising public awareness and building local capacity to protect critical ecosystems, wildlife and human rights. FREELAND is the lead implementing partner of the U.S. Support Program for the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN), a program that provides investigative assistance, training and other capacity building support to Southeast Asian authorities tasked with stopping illegal wildlife trade — a major threat to biodiversity. For more information visit www.freeland.org