If you love sloths and want to help these beautiful animals stay in the wild – now is your chance! We only have 5 days left to raise funds for the future of sloth conservation. This is your last opportunity to help us launch the Sloth Conservation Foundation (SloCo) – a registered non-profit organisation that will be dedicated to saving sloths in the wild through research and conservation initiatives. Click here for more information!
In recent days there has been a surge of negative press surrounding particular sloth rescue and rehabilitation practices, triggering considerable speculation as to what is right and what is wrong. There are a lot of allegations being thrown around, and people seem unable to agree on the best way to move forward. I do not want to delve into the details of the accusations here, but rather I would like to draw attention to the glaring problem which everybody seems to be missing – why are so many sloths ending up in the care of humans?
As a biologist, I can only see one sustainable, long-term solution to this growing problem – to remove the need for rescue in the first place. Of course we will never be able to prevent the occurrence of injuries / abandonments in the wild sloth population entirely, but we can certainly improve on the existing situation. Sloths are currently being admitted to rescue centers in unprecedented numbers, falling victim to the land development, urbanization, and habitat destruction occurring every day across South and Central America. From power line electrocutions and dog attacks, to road collisions, habitat loss and human cruelty – it is a long and sad list. But lying at the heart of the issue, and perhaps most concerning, is the fact that virtually nothing is being done to reduce the negative impacts of these threats on the wild sloth populations. There is a lot of talk about rescuing and rehabilitating sloths, but why are the root problems continually being ignored? The rescue and rehabilitation centers are already overburdened, and it’s becoming increasingly unrealistic to expect these organisations to also handle the responsibility of developing conservation strategies.
This is where the Sloth Conservation Foundation (SloCo) comes into play. We will bring together all people, partners, and institutions working globally with sloths to achieve lasting conservation solutions. While other groups will perform the necessary triage, we will work on curing the root cause. Such conservation strategies will include: education programs in local communities; campaigning for underground power lines; planting forest corridors to connect fragmented habitats; construction of wildlife bridges across major roads; tree surveys to ensure that the species needed to support sloths are plentiful enough; and international education programs to reduce poaching for the sloth pet trade and tourist photo opportunities.
If you haven’t already done so, please consider donating – any amount that you can spare will be a step closer to making this dream a reality. You can donate on our campaign page here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-sloth-conservation-foundation-sloco#/
“Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much”.
All additional donations that we receive on the campaign above our initial $5000 goal (which is funding our genetic research) will go towards building the Sloth Conservation Foundation. Costs will include start-up expenses such as creating a website, logo design, drawing up and submitting official non-profit documentation etc., alongside gathering the funds to actually put the conservation strategies into practice.
For the love of sloths… please help us to safeguard their future in the wild.
