In Japan, where people pay as much as U.S.$3,800 to have one as a house pet, the slow loris, a tiny primate native to the forests of southern Asia, is one of the most popular animals in the wildlife trade. Literally thanks to a new ruling by the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the loris will soon be priceless.

In order to stop what advocates described as gruesome abuses in the illegal sale of the animal, the convention, which oversees the sale of 33,000 plant and animal species worldwide, officially banned all international traffic in the slow loris last week.

According to CITES' report, the small, nocturnal creatures are often trapped in the wild and have all of their teeth pulled in order to be sold as tame or as babies. menus, in medicines, and in marketplaces worldwide.