Phuket: Rihanna loris pics prompt call for tougher tout penalties

[Lite Beer]

Phuket: Rihanna loris pics prompt call for tougher tout penalties

PHUKET : Photos posted online of pop star Rihanna posing with an endangered slow loris on Phuket last week show criminal penalties for wildlife traders are too weak, one of the island's top police officers says.

Kathu district police deputy superintendent Akanit Danpitaksat admitted soft punishments make it almost impossible for officers to stamp out the trade in protected wildlife on the island.

"The punishment is up to the court's consideration. However, it is too soft to stop them," he said.

Touts, who charge money _ usually around 100 baht _ for tourists to take photos with rare animals such as slow lorises and iguanas, are able to resume business almost immediately after being arrested, because the penalties are so weak.

Bangkok Post Sunday visited Soi Bangla, Phuket's main tourist strip, almost a week after Rihanna posted the slow loris pictures, but the wildlife touts seemed to have disappeared. Residents on the island say this is an anomaly, as the touts have been a regular and highly visible attraction on Patong's main tourist strip for many years.

Pol Lt Col Akanit, however, claimed the police response to the Rihanna photos, which included the arrest of two alleged touts, was not a mere publicity stunt. "We normally survey and check for this illegal activity every night, not just because those pictures were posted by Rihanna," he said. "We have erected signs telling people that the loris shows are illegal."

Pol Lt Col Akanit admitted that despite the campaign, there are still some wildlife touts wandering Soi Bangla. He said detecting the animals, particularly lorises, can be difficult as they are small and can easily be hidden from police view.

Petra Osterberg, an experienced volunteer at the Phuket Gibbon Project rehabilitation centre, said Thailand's image as an eco-tourism destination means travellers arrive here expecting to see wildlife. Many are ignorant to the fact that the animals paraded by touts are protected.

"The slow loris is an endangered wild animal," Mr Osterberg said. "They like to stay still at the same place and do not often move. They might attack when they feel uncomfortable, such as when people want to take a picture with them ... and loris bites are highly poisonous."

Mr Osterberg said almost all slow lorises seen in tourist areas have had their teeth removed to nullify this toxic bite.

"Cutting slow loris teeth can affect their nerves, and when they are rescued from traders, they cannot return to the wild as they do not have teeth," he said.

"I hope authorities will enforce the law to protect this endangered wild life before they all become extinct."

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-rihanna-loris-pics-prompt-call-for-tougher-tout-penalties-42144.php

-- Phuket News 2013-09-29

[NomadJoe]

Lot's of face saving for the police in the statements above. Other than a couple of freelancers, the touts are not "wandering Bangla" they are stationed in front of Soi Crocodile (Ladyboy soi) every night and local police know it, and they also know who is responsible for it, but he is one of the untouchables in Patong. If there are none out when media visits, it's because they were notified ahead of time.

I was looking forward to what this official was going to claim the penalty for possessing a loris was, since it's an article about said penalties. Very strange not to mention what those penalties currently are, and what this official thinks they should be. Local police have long complained to the media that the fine was 2000B and so there was little else they could do but catch and release the touts. Now since the Rihanna pics, local officials are being interviewed by international media, and suddenly the penalty is said to be up to 40,000B and 5 years in jail, which is certainly aqequete. Somebody's fibbing, and many are not doing thier jobs.

If it is true that the fine is only 2000B, and it is only going to be sporadically enforced as it has been, then I would suggest to not enforce it at all. This only makes the tout's handler have to buy a new loris from poachers, which feeds the illegal wildlife trade that flourishes here. And each "rescued" toothless loris requires lifetime captive care. They usually don't last long.

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Thailand's image as an eco-tourism destination

[BudRight]

I want a Lorax.

[Neilly]

Mr Osterberg said almost all slow lorises seen in tourist areas have had their teeth removed to nullify this toxic bite.

Perhaps removing the teeth of the touts might slow the trade

[Suffinator]

Even two visiting Thai ladies from Samui was shocked and disgusted at what went on in Soi Bangla

Thais Visiting Phuket Deeply Ashamed

[klfopera]

The fine should be 10000 Baht.

[Maestro]

After her dalliance with a loris in Phuket Rihanna now was photographed with snakes for the cover of a British magazine.

The topless Medusa: Rihanna wears nothing but a snake nest on 25th anniversary cover of British GQ directed by Damian Hirst

By SARA MALM

PUBLISHED: 21:44 GMT, 25 October 2013 | UPDATED: 00:00 GMT, 26 October 2013

Rihanna swaps River Island for reptiles on her latest magazine cover as she poses topless with snakes wrapped around her body.

The singer stares back at readers of British GQ on their 25th anniversary issue with slit-like pupils and a possessed gaze.

The provocative photographs, directed by Damien Hirst, sees her open mouthed with a visible tongue as a nest of snakes slither around her head.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2477146/The-topless-Medusa-Rihanna-wears-snake-nest-25th-anniversary-cover-British-GQ-directed-Damian-Hirst.html#ixzz2ioHrnTul

-- The Daily Mail 2013-10-25

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Mr Osterberg said almost all slow lorises seen in tourist areas have had their teeth removed to nullify this toxic bite.

Perhaps removing the teeth of the touts might slow the trade

Do you feel any pain? - Marathon Man