Why can’t you keep tarsiers as pets? Kuya Kim answers

Did you know? Wild animals must not be kept as pets, even if they are as cute as the tiny tarsier.

According to Kuya Kim on “24 Oras” on Tuesday, tarsiers are easily highly stressed—by light, noise, and when they are held.

When they are caged and triggered, tarsiers even bang their heads repeatedly against the cage until they die.

If they are spotted outside their natural habitat, they must be reported to the proper authorities, said Armen Cuenca, chief of Cagayan de Oro’s City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office.

“Dapat hindi siya galawin, hayaan lang siya. I-report lang kung saan banda para ma-include siya sa aming assessment,” he said.

Teachers at a school in Cagayan de Oro taught this important lesson to their students when they found a tarsier hiding in a classroom.

"Nagkagulo yung mga students, kasi nga cute, maliit, gusto nilang kunin, pero sinabi namin huwag, kasi endangered at bawal sa batas," said teacher Joel Rey Carestia of Cadayonan Integrated School.

Carestia said that the school is surrounded by forest and nature, so it was not surprising for a member of the local wildlife to find its way into the classroom.

They kept the windows open overnight to allow the creature to slip back into its home by itself.

The IUCN Red List categorizes the Philippine tarsier as a near-threatened species, while other tarsier species are vulnerable or endangered. — Franchesca Viernes/BM, GMA News