Wildlife Rescue (SUR)
In Suriname, we meet an organization that rescues wildlife. How does that also help our own survival?
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In Domburg, a small town just south of Suriname’s capital Paramaribo, we meet Monique Pool. She is the founder of the NGO Green Heritage Fund Suriname (GHFS) and locally known as the “sloth lady.” A Domburg resident called the organisation’s emergency number when she spotted a sloth in her garden. The wild animal usually lives in treetops and only comes down to defecate, about once a week. Monique knows why the sloth is in the garden. “Trees were cleared in the neighbourhood,” she explains. “The animals that lived in them had to find new homes. The sloth is always the last one to flee because it moves so slowly. That’s when we come in. We try to catch it, examine it, and relocate it to a safe area.”
Monique walks into the garden armed with a large net, a portable dog crate, and oversized gloves. The resident points at a tall tree. “I saw the sloth climb this tree,” she says. We peer up but see only leaves and branches. Monique has trouble detecting a sloth too, so she grabs a camera with a big lens. She zooms in, takes photos, examines them. “There, close to the trunk!” Monique has spotted the animal. We huddle around her and follow her finger. Indeed, high among the leaves a grey ball of hair with a light brown face stares back at us. A sloth, unmistakably!
Sloth Wellness Center
What now? “The tree is too high for me to climb, so we have to come back when it comes down,” Monique decides. “This sloth is a three-toed sloth, which only eats leaves from two types of trees. This tree is not one of them, so it will come down to look for food. When it does, we will take it to our wellness center.” A wellness center for sloths? We need to see that!
It’s where we visit Monique a few days later. Just outside the village of Groningen, an hour outside the capital, we drive into a large, wooded area. Signs caution visitors to drive slowly, as sloths may be crossing the driveway. The driveway ends at a two-story wooden building. The organisation’s white vans with “Sloth Rescue” stickers are parked in front of it. Monique welcomes us and gives an update on the Domburg sloth. “Thanks to the attentive residents we were able to remove it from the garden, examine it, and release it in the forest. It’s nice that many people in Suriname know us and call us when they see a sloth in need.”
Her reputation as the sloth lady was established when she and her organisation saved more some 100 sloths at once, an event Monique describes as sloth armageddon or slothageddon. “Forest was cleared just outside Paramaribo to make room for houses. When the trees came down, sloths fell on the ground. More and more appeared. In the end, we rescued more than 100 sloths from that piece of land. They all needed a new home. Many volunteers and I looked after them until we could release them in the wild.”
Protected but Under Threat
“Why is it necessary to save sloths?” we ask. “Sloths are a protected species here in Suriname,” Monique explains. “Yet they face many threats. As slothageddon proved, one of the main threats is deforestation. Basically, we humans are moving into the city of animals, the forest. In the process, we destroy the animals’ homes. Forest is also cleared for agriculture, mining, or timber production. The more forest is destroyed, the more difficult it becomes for sloths to find spots where the canopies connect. Sloths need that cover to move from tree to tree.”
“We humans are moving into the city of animals, the forest. In the process, we destroy the animals’ homes.”