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Illegal trade of slow loris ramps up online
Endangered: A slow loris, locally known as kukang, holds onto a branch
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span class="inline inline-center">Endangered: A slow loris, locally known as kukang, holds onto a branch. Lorises are sold at markets for as little as Rp 450,000 (US$33.75).(Courtesy of International Animal Rescue)
With teddy bear-like features and a passive personality, the slow loris, locally known as kukang, inevitably falls victim to Jakarta’s illegal wildlife trade.
Despite being sold at markets for decades, traders have turned to social media and online forums to keep trading the nocturnal primate amid recent crackdowns by the authorities.
“The internet provides people with anonymity, so selling online has a lot of advantages. If you have a shop on the street that means you have to be present all day but if you have an online shop you can make appointments. You can save money because you don’t have to rent a space. You can also have a normal job and do it on the side,” Christine Rattel, an advisor for wildlife conservation at International Animal Rescue, a hub for rescued slow lorises, said.
Voicing a similar concern, Karmele Llano Sanchez, program director at International Animal Rescue, based in Ciapus, Bogor, West Java, said “the hunters used to be the people who would pick them up and give them to the sellers. Now they’ve found that they can just sell them online. The profit is bigger because they don’t have to go through all these steps. They can sell them directly.”
Lorises sell in markets for as little as Rp 450,000 (US$33.75).
The online marketplace opens up a whole new world of international trading.
“It’s harder now because by selling them online they gain international reach. They’re sold for Rp 500,000. Maybe for a foreigner it would be more and as soon as it hits the international markets it’s a lot more,” Femke Den Haas, founder of Jakarta Animal Aid Network, said.
Multiple raids on several wildlife markets across Indonesia have also prompted the shift to online trading.
“There used to be sellers that sold the slow loris in markets here but not anymore. They stopped selling them because there were lots of inspections to prevent the sale of endangered animals,” Yuli, a market stall holder at the Pramuka Bird Market in Central Jakarta, said.
The Javan slow loris is listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
Indonesian Law No. 7/1999 on the preservation of fauna and flora lists slow lorises as a protected species.
It’s considered by the IUCN as being one of the most endangered primates in the world due to habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade.
According to Indonesian Law No. 5 /1990 concerning the conservation of natural resources and ecosystems, the trade and possession of protected animals, including slow lorises, is forbidden.
Perpetrators could receive a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a Rp 100 million fine.
Last month alone arrests were made in relation to online selling through social media. On Jan. 20, 19 slow lorises were confiscated from an online trader in Cirebon, West Java. Also on Jan. 23, 18 slow lorises were found after being taken from their home in Buahkapas, West Java, and sold through social media.
Achmad Pribadi, head of the subdirectorate for the protection and security of forests, said “the penalty for these crimes is still low. We are now revising the law.”
— The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.
