Two Thai animal keepers have been arrested after they allowed Rihanna to take a picture of herself with a protected animal.

Rihanna posted a picture of herself with a slow loris on Instagram along with the caption “look who was talkin dirty to me”.

The photograph alerted the authorities because the slow loris is a protected animal and the two men who provided the loris for the photo have now been arrested for the possession of a protected animal.

The men could now face up to four years in prison and be forced to pay a fine the equivalent of £809 if found guilty of illegally possessing the animal.

Local police have been fighting to stop people illegally keeping endangered animals but as a spokesperson representing the local authorities points out, having a celebrity such as Rihanna publishing pictures with such creatures makes the problem all the more prominent.

"It's like a cat-and-mouse game. But this time it's bigger because a celebrity like Rihanna posted the picture, and there were more than 200,000 'likes' from around the world," the spokesperson said.