TIRUMALA: Two young slender lorises found near the Tirumala-Tirumala ghat road by locals, who suspected that they had been abandoned, were reunited with their mother in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The youths found the two on a leafy bed near the road on Tuesday night and brought them to the temple town of Tirumala. With the help of local journalists, forest officials were given custody of the lorises around 1 am.
TTD Divisional Forest Officer Phani Kumar said the slender loris generally leaves its young at a safe place and goes in search of food. He added that the locals had brought them to the temple town in the mistaken belief that they were abandoned.
Later, forest watchers went with the youths to the same place where the lorises had been picked up and left them there. The mother came to the spot around 1 am but sensing human presence, it did not come near.
After the watchers went far away, the mother returned around 3.30 am and took away the young ones into the forest area, Phani Kumar said.
The DFO said a slender loris changes its location frequently to protect its young. "It is a crime to catch slender lorises. The youths did it unknowingly and handed them over to us and we could reunite them with their mother," Phani Kumar said, adding that the Seshachalam forest area is a natural habitat for the loris.