People for Animals, an NGO working with urban wildlife, found six injured slender loris in the past two months. The NGO says the nature of injury on the animals point towards them being used in black magic rituals.
"The animals are injured in the most barbaric way. Their arm or leg are usually cut off or crushed. The belief is that whatever is inflicted on the animal will in turn happen to the person's enemy," said Kishan C H, general manager, PFA Bangalore.
The forest officials believe that tribals are being paid to catch the nocturnal animals. Familiar with the forests and hunting techniques, it does not take much to catch these slow-moving creatures. Of the six that were found, three did not survive as septicemia caught up through the open wounds. The other three were released back into the Sravanadurga forest after experts ensured they could manage in the wild.
Some of the animals were found in a farm house in Nelamangala. Interestingly, two of them were found in Shivajinagar. "As it is a hub of carpentry, the animals would have reached them through trucks carrying wood from the outskirts," Kishan said. Another one was brought to the veterinary hospital in Hebbal by a citizen but was directed towards PFA as the creature was a wild animal.
Bangalore had, once upon a time, a lot of urban wildlife, slender loris being one among them. The small patches of dry scrub jungles here were home to large number of these tiny creatures. They are now endangered and a variety of loris comes under the vulnerable category in the red list. According to Sindhu Radhakrishna, associate professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, who has done her doctoral research in slender loris, the numbers of the primate are diminishing. Apart from black magic, they are used as pets and in folk medicine. "There was a time when they were sold off in the Russell Market," she says.
Slender survivors
Slender loris is found only in India and Sri Lanka
They are round-eyed, timid, nocturnal primates
They face many challenges, one of the biggest is loss of natural habitat
They tend to get traded for folk medicine and pet trade
They were also used to pick cards like parrots
We are losing loris
We do not know about the numbers of slender loris we are losing. But we have to remember that if we lose them from India, we lose them from the world
Sindhu Radhakrishna, associate professor, NIAS
Keeping close watch
We have realized that using slender loris for black magic is turning rampant. We have already come across six instances in two months. We have not made any arrests yet but are keeping a close watch on it
M Nagaraj, forest range officer, south Bangalore
Loris habitats in city
Nelamangala
Uttarahalli
Kanakapura
Anekal
In the black list
That animals are being used for black magic is nothing new. Barn owls were used for pooja and the birds were found captive from many 'swamijis' years back. Turtles were believed to be good for vaastu and red sand boa was thought to bring prosperity.
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