Set slow loris free right away
Urges leading zoologist
Staff Correspondent
The critically endangered nocturnal primate, slow loris, caught and kept in a cage at the deputy commissioner's house in Bandarban, should immediately be released back into the wild for its survival, a leading zoologist said yesterday. "It will die, if it is not freed soon," warned Dr. Ali Reza Khan, director of Dubai Zoo. "Slow loris does not survive in the zoo. It's a sensitive animal. The best we can do is leave the animal back to where it was caught," he told The Daily Star. The indigenous Bom people found the ash-white and owl-eyed slow loris in the forest near Shailpropat Tourism Centre in Bandarban Saturday. The monkey weighing about 5kg with big eyes and long black stripes on the back is shy and hides its face behind paws. Infrared rays of sunlight severely harm the eyes of the animal, Reza said, adding: "This is the reason it tries to cover its eyes from the sun all the time." "Slow loris is rarely seen in the open, as it does not come out in daytime. I believe there are some slow loris in Sylhet, where I have recently seen three of them caged by a poacher," he pointed out. The monkey, collected by the district administration from the indigenous people in Bandarban, fuelled curiosity among locals.
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