Green Heritage Fund Suriname (2005) rescues sloths and anteaters from urban areas in Paramaribo, Suriname in tropical South America. Professional care in natural surroundings with quarantine and treatment room will minimize trauma caused by contact with humans, reducing rehabilitation time and thus improving survival chances for the sloths and anteaters. This professional shelter will also serve as an educational center to teach visitors about consequences of habitat loss.
Sloths and anteaters are victimized by urban sprawl in Paramaribo. Green Heritage Fund Suriname rescues the animals from their difficult situation. The most common species are three-toed or two-toed sloths, sometimes anteaters (lesser or giant), or a tree porcupine. We have now built our professional shelter in Saramacca where injured or very young wild animals are rehabilitated to return into the wild. Our goal is to bring all of them back into the wild after rehabilitation.
This project focuses on keeping the sloth, anteater and armadillo rehabilitation center operational in the natural surroundings of our project site. Including the upkeep of the larger structure which includes human living space, office and education facilities (see photos). This professional shelter aims to minimize trauma caused by contact with humans. This reduces rehabilitation time and thus improves survival chances for the sloths, anteaters and armadillos.
The rehab center will house a visitors' education centre. By teaching about the animals and their life history, we hope to create more awareness about their habitat's complexity and its benefits to humans. People will also be informed about the impacts of pollution and destruction of the coastal swamp and mangrove forests for animal AND human population. Saving patches of forest in the sprawling urban area to create a green corridor along the coast is one solution GHFS wishes to promote.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
