Two rescued Slow Loris quarantined in Delhi zoo

NEW DELHI: The Delhi zoo, these days, has been playing host to two new guests. They are small, can fit in your palm and weigh less than one kilogram. After being captured from the wild and transported in pockets and under-garments, the two Slow Loris rescued from the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport have found an interim home at the Zoo.

The zoo curator Riyaz Ahmad Khan said the two rare primates have been kept in quarantine. “They are rare breeds and susceptible to diseases or infections. So we have kept them in quarantine allowing no access,” he said.

“They are not being put on display in the zoo and are kept in the zoo hospital. The matter is pending in the court. We shall go by the court’s order,” Khan added. In the first week of September, the CISF officials seized the two rare monkeys from Dubai nationals during security check at the airport. The species, identified as Pygmy Slow Loris that are native to Vietnam, Laos and China, were being smuggled from Bangkok to Dubai by three passengers. One was found hidden between two layers of the male passenger’s undergarments and the other was abandoned at the airport dustbin.

Zoo officials say that the monkeys were handed over to them on September 14, by the order of the Deputy Director Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (Northern Region). “When the monkeys were handed over to us they were in immense stress and trauma. The canines of both the primates had been extracted,” said a source at the Zoo. “They have been kept under observation for a month. We are feeding them bananas, boiled egg and chicken regularly,” added the source.

Both the monkeys are 15 years old males. They are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

In India, there are 41 Slow Loris kept in nine zoos. Of the five species found in South and Southeast Asia, the Bengal Slow Loris is the heaviest and weighs around 2kg.