Sloth Sanctuary Suriname sequel: the whole story!

When we were called on a Saturday afternoon to rescue a sloth, we were in Saramacca preparing for a volunteer day. Simone, who had reported the animal, said she would go to the car mechanic’s place because she was afraid we would not be at his garage before closing time. When we arrived at Simone’s house, the first thing I noticed was the dark color of this three-fingered sloth. On closer examination, the animal was partially covered in black oil. We have had this once before, an oiled sloth, and that had been extraordinary, but there had not been a link with a car mechanic’s garage. This time there was. 

According to Simone, the animal had been on the empty lot next to the garage, and when the mechanic saw it trying to cross the road, he took it off the road, just as Simone passed by. After she arrived home, she called me.

The pieces of the puzzle came together for me. The mechanic was probably dumping his waste oil in the empty lot next to his garage. The sloth, in search of a better home, had gone over the ground, through the empty lot, through the dumped waste oil, towards the road. We took her with us and started researching what would be the best thing to clean her fur before we could release her. And there is apparently one product on the market that everyone uses to clean oiled wildlife. And we did find it in our supermarket. 

Our vet brought the animal to the rescue center, and over the next few days, the animal was washed according to instructions from our friend, Dr. Roberto. Her fur was as clean as we could get it. Because of the unique structure of their hair, it was impossible to remove all the oil. However, she was clean enough to be released, which we did. And there was no sloth happier than this oiled sloth to be released. She disappeared among the foliage of the trees in no time.

However, I have been thinking back about what this means. If there are one hundred thousand cars in Suriname and they all do this, dump their waste oil in the bushes and along our roads and in our waterways every time they change the oil, it is an environmental disaster. And it took an oiled sloth for me to realize this. For sure, more wildlife is harmed by this, and our groundwater gets poisoned. It means our waste management is failing. We will have to consider our next steps and how to bring this problem to the attention of our authorities. Thanks to this sloth, we discovered an imminent threat to the environmental health in our city. We hope she is doing well.

Since our last report, we have had many more rescues (31), especially after the international film crew returned this year. We definitely do think they are sloth magnets. And thanks to your commitment, we can continue rescuing these animals and taking action on their behalf, such as trying to keep waste oil out of their environment. Thank you!