By Monique Pool | Director
Updates about our little friend Glenn
Regrettably we do not always have good news. In our last report we wrote to you about our little friend Glenn, who was doing his best to hang on to see his new home become a reality. Although Glenn loved his food and his sloth smoothie, he failed to thrive and somehow did not seem to get all the nutrition out of his food. At a certain moment we even decided to help his digestion by adding probiotics to his diet. Glenn received a lot of love from our overseas and local volunteers. Gabriella, Esi, Greta and Kasie - all from their respective countries to help us care for the animals and also with our other projects - and our local volunteers Ann, Stellar, Yvonne, Jonathan, Kavita, Patrick they all helped him in their own way and loved him dearly. Patrick built him his special climbing rack, the other volunteers gave him smoothie and fysiotherapy and all of us gave him lots of love. He was our little star, he was persistent and did not want to give up, but his small body was failing him. Maybe he had left his mother so early that he missed some essential bacteria in his gut to assist him in getting all nutrients out of his food, we will never know. What we do know is that we have to prevent animals from being shot in the first place, because then little Glenn would not have to face the ordeal he had to without his mum. Our centre will have an important educational function, and stories like the story of Glenn will be highlighted to make people understand why target practice on life animals is wrong. If love could have saved Glenn, he would have lived forever.
Karina is growing fur
Fortunately, Karina from our last report is doing much better now. Something we all prayed for, that the hair around her belly would grow, is now indeed happening. Karina is such a good eater, and we still have her confined to a small space, just because it allows us to monitor her better. In the centre we are now planning and have started constructing, we will have a special rehabilitation island on which animals like her, who are doing already fine and should be allowed some additional space, can continue to heal without having immediately to fend for themselves. The wounds healed not only well, the belly seems to be regaining its original form, which means the muscle tissue is not damaged. Sloths have two layers of fur. The undercoat - and that has now completely grown back to cover her naked skin - and the topcoat, which protects them from the rain. The topcoat should be restored for Karina a little before we feel comfortable releasing her. We can see how much she would like to roam free, each time we take her out to go to the toilet. We are looking forward to the day, we can wave goodbye to Karina as we release her in a safe forest.
And more rescues and releases
The deluge of sloths has not stopped after our last report. At an incessant pace, sometimes two per day, and even within 5 minutes of each other, we receive reports to pick up animals. Not all of these rescues however are successful and each animal has its own story as Greta, one of our Summer interns can tell you (see link to her story below). One of the more recent animals we picked up, Crooked, was reported as we had just returned from a release in Saramacca. When we arrived at the house, he was sitting in the burglar bars and the family reported that he was wearing a collar. We took him down from the burglar bars and indeed, a small black nylon collar was around his neck. We immediately removed the collar and then noticed that his right forepaw had strangely crooked nails. This past Wednesday we released him, because except for the crooked nails, he seemed to be healthy and capable of surviving on his own. Crooked was very fast, and did not really pause to say goodbyes.
Cooperation with German Foundation Welttierschutz
One of our wishes has been granted, which is to have a good vehicle to transport the animals. The German Foundation Welttierschutz and Green Heritage Fund Suriname have entered into an agreement to work together to help protect Surinamese wildlife, in particular sloths and anteaters. They are also providing us with funding to ensure the welfare of the animals is secured. We are very happy to be working with them, and to relieve some of the needs of our animals.
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By Monique Pool | Director
By Monique S Pool | Director
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