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ildlife protection activists are demanding tougher law enforcement to put an end to the illegal capture and trade of the slow loris (Nycticebus), one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world, activists say.

Southeast Asia Traffic deputy regional director Chris Shepherd said Thursday that no significant progress had been made so far in efforts to end the illegal capture and trade of slow lorises’, despite legal protection provided by the Indonesian government.

“Current enforcement and prosecution does not indicate any sense of urgency to end slow lorises’ illegal hunt and trade,” he said on the sidelines of a seminar on slow loris conservation in Indonesia.

According to Law No. 5/1990 on the conservation of biological diversity and natural resources and Government Regulation No. 7/1999, the slow loris, or kukang, is completely protected in Indonesia.

Slow lorises are also prohibited from international trade by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The slow loris is traded in many parts of Southeast Asia as pets. They are also used in the entertainment industry and for traditional medicines.

Slow lorises are primarily traded in Indonesia as pets, and are not as widely used here for medicine as they are in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos.

“Dealers continue to sell these animals openly in markets, with no fear of punishment,” Shepherd said.

Serious commitment and punishment were needed to halt slow lorises’ illegal capture and trade, he added.

Slow lorises used to be a little known species. “We previously had very little information about it. Population densities were unknown due to difficulties in studying this nocturnal primate,” said Nicolein de Lange, an International Animal Rescue (IAR) activist in Indonesia.

De Lange said that only one slow loris species was previously known, but now there are five recognized species: Nycticebus coucang (Sumatra), N. pygmaeus (China and Indochina), N. bengalensis (Bengal), N. menagensis (Borneo) and N. Javanicus (Java).

These slow loris species were officially recognized in 2006.

Indonesia has three different species of lorises: Javan, Sumatran and Kalimantan (Borneo).

“There might be other species of lorises that are either already extinct or could become extinct because we have not done genetic research on Indonesian lorises,” said IAR’s veterinarian director Karmele Llano Sanchez.

The Javan slow loris is recognized as endangered, while the other species were classified as vulnerable, Sanchez said.

“The Javan loris is endemic to the island,” she said.

The recognition of the five species and improved methods for studying lorises in the wild have upgraded all slow loris species to Appendix I of CITES, which prohibits all international trade of these animals.

In 2008 the Javan slow loris was even included on the IUCN Red List of the 25 most endangered primates in the world. This species was again included on the same list in 2010, reflecting the pressures on the species at this time.

“We have thought that the lorises suffered most from habitat loss, but now we know a large part of the pressure actually comes from illegal trade,” Sanchez said.

The IAR center received 47 lorises in 2010, far less than the 77 they received for care in 2009.

At the IAR center, 64 percent of the lorises turned in have had their teeth clipped by hunters in order to prevent the animals from transmitting highly allergenic toxin they can spread when they bite. This means that only 36 percent of the lorises at the center have potential for release.

Slow lorises in Indonesia face serious threats from wild hunting, illegal trade and the dangers of logging and deforestation.

Forestry Ministry ranger Maman said that the Indonesian government was committed to reducing illegal trade in the slow loris. The 1990 law stipulates tough sanctions for those who illegally trade in endangered species, including slow lorises. Poachers may be jailed for a maximum of five years and fined up to Rp 100 million (US$11,100).

“We have continuously carried out efforts to stop the crime by enforcing the law on criminal forestry activities,” he said.

However, the existing law has not deterred perpetrators.

“Maybe the punishment is too lenient,” he said, adding that investigations had been carried out in several places, including the Jatinegara market in East Jakarta, to put an end to the trade.

Citing an example, he said that in 2008 two illegal loris traders, Agus Subari and Sarwo bin Pawiro, were jailed.

Agus was sentenced to one year and eight months and fined Rp 1 million, while Sarwo was sentenced to one year and seven months and fined Rp 1 million.

Many wild animal hunters are attracted to the trade in slow lorises due to the high prices they fetch.

For each slow loris a hunter may fetch Rp 150,000, although prices increase to between Rp 200,000 and Rp 600,000, or even higher, when the loris is exported. A loris can sell for as much as $390 in China.

“We should increase people’s awareness of the need to stop the capture and trade in slow lorises before they become extinct,” Maman said. (ebf)