This past weekend Rihanna decided to kick up her feet and take a relaxing vacation to Phuket, Thailand, little did she know her presence would lead to two arrests and send the country into commotion.
The singer was visiting in between stops on her Diamonds World Tour. During her stay she Instagramed and Tweeted many of her ideal tourist experiences such as riding an elephant, boating and sightseeing. However, one Instagram in particular stood out above the rest.
The singer posted a picture of herself on Instagram with a Loris, an endangered primate native to Southeast Asia. The picture was captioned “look who was talkin dirty to me,” and “liked” by more than 230,00 viewers. Such popularity drew Thai officials attention and caused them to take action. Through Rihanna’s Tweets and Instagram picture, the officials were able to locate two members of an illegal animal peddling operation. The animal is protected under the endangered species list, which means obtaining any animal on the list is considered illegal.
“Phuket authorities were alerted to the picture (of Rihanna), and last night police arrested the two individuals who brought out the loris as a photo opportunity for tourists,” Phuket district chief Weera Kerdsirimongkon told the Washington Post. Weera went on to explain the police confiscated two lorises from a 20-year-old male and his 16-year-old accomplice. If convicted the pair could face up to 4 years in prison and $1,300 fine.
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This is great! I remember reading this story and thinking wow that’s pretty cool how influential social media can be. Especially coming from Rihanna who constantly post pics of herself half naked or smoking blunts, she actually did something great! Saving the cute little loris!
This is amazing that this happened — especially in Asia when their social media isn’t nearly as big as ours!