Sonya Loves Her Nom Noms

Dooood, that is so cute! Nasty worms gettin' put out of their misery, and a healthy lunch for Sonya.

She certainly loves her grub(s). The kids are enchanted.

Both videos have been cute but I wonder why Sonya is not living in her natural habitat. Is there a reason she was domesticated? Hopefully it wasn't to perform acts for YouTube as that would not be cute.

@ required

From the owner's own words from YouTube:

"P.S. I must answer several questions was asked:
1. First of all, we are located in St.Petersburg, RUSSIA.
2. It is NOT ILLEGAL in Russia to own this animals.
3. Our Sonya was born in a loris nursery and we have legally bought her in a local pet-shop. Thats why she is so tame and friendly!"

finger licking good

She's SO cute. I love how, when she grabs the third worm, she looks right at the camera.

Cage looks smaller than would seem reasonable. Other than that, Sonya is a very cute animal!

It is a very good thing that evil aliens don't have adorable giant brown eyes. I'd be 'aww'ing as they ate my brains.

@Mytake: I think the cage is just the "foyer". :) You can see her going back to her "house" at the end of the video.

Feh. So low budget. Can't afford one of those Fast Lorises. I do love those Loris nurseries though where the Lorises just pop up out of their seeds every spring after the last frost. Ahhh, reminds me of home.

@Ali S.

All you are saying is that she was domesticated (in Russia legally ALL-CAPs exclamation point) in order to perform acts for YouTube.

OK, I give up - I can't find what song this is.
It's a nice little oldie, I guess. Hopefully someone will enlighten me/us.

@required

What acts is Sonya performing? All I see is a well cared for pet enjoying a meal. She's not doing tricks or being exploited.

Get off the high horse and enjoy the cute.

Alice, the problem with the Loris is that it is endangered and taken from its native habitat to be sold. Often, some of their teeth are removed to prevent them from biting owners, which also inhibits their eating. They also secret a poison from their elbows which they lick and use in their bites. They also have sharp claws. While it's obvious from the video they can be domesticated, in the end, the trade is hurting an already endangered species.

ANYWHO....
I thought it was adorable! *luvluv* Just love the hands and the slooooow reaching for the nummies.

You're right mikos, thanks. Anywhere for a wild animal except for, well, the wild is second best, and I really really hope the owners treat Sonya as best as they can.

@ Kevin
I think it's Crazy Talk by Brenda Lee

It may be legal to own this animal in Russia, but that doesn't necessarily make it right or in the best interests of the animal.

Sorry, Alice, high horses aren't illegal to ride.

Cute aside, and without maligning how well this owner treats this loris, it is important to point out the loris tardigradus is what the Zoological Society of London calls an Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) Species (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDGE_Species). One of the threats to it, besides habitat destruction and use as laboratory subjects, is through the pet trade.

@ required
@ ted
@ andrew in t.o.

Aside from chiding people on Neatorama, I'm curious to know what steps you are taking to stop the abuse of animals?

@ required, ted and andrew, i think pointing out the problem using well-researched arguments is already a good job! please keep on chiding! :)

I only chide people about their incorrect use of grammar or spelling. Otherwise, I usually just state my own opinion.

ucprod, two years ago, we did adopt a kitten that was thrown from a speeding truck onto the highway. Is that acceptable?

@ Ted and et al. Hey, saving The Kitties is cool, no snark there, and it definitely buys you credit or two to criticize a single Youtube clip.

However, to garner mucho Karma points, donate money consistently, or bar that, volunteer to the SPCA, WWF, or any like organization to help them stem the systematic abuse of animals. (Maybe avoid PETA, as they are sensationalizing themselves into irrelevance.)

Sorry, it's not enough to only fret about a weighty issue on a comment board, or perform a 10 second Google search to collect a Wikipedia link. Yeah, awareness is great and all but it only serves to assuage your guilt if you don't get involved. If you want to change the world, you gotta get involved.

PS - Yes, I do donate, avoid meat, buy local, recycle, and support sustainable development. Also, my righteous self-satisfaction has constructed a most wonderful glass house that is just begging for some stones thrown at it. Fire away if you must but I do what I can yet know there's always more work to be done.

PPS - And for what it's worth -- and hey, sorry Neatorama admins -- I have an ad blocker on Firefox, so whatever advertising they are able to get from my click through to this Loris video will be completely lost on me, but perhaps that for another comment another posting.