Wildlife Conservation Suriname Project #20480

Sloth Sanctuary Suriname sequel: the whole story!

by Stg Green Heritage Fund Suriname

Sloth Sanctuary Suriname sequel: the whole story!

Project Report | Feb 21, 2017
Sloth Monitors Progress of Rehab Construction

By Monique Pool | Director

Sloth gazes lazily over the building activities

Construction and Financing Update

The Sloth Wellness Center is being built in an area in which we have for many years released animals. And although we come there regularly we hardly ever see any of these animals back. But since we started construction we have been seeing one sloth who stays around the center construction site, in clear view in the trees there, as if he is observing what is going on. Maybe in his mind he is even supervising this work. And with him we also have seen some other curious guests, a group of playful squirrel monkeys, who come to have a look from time to time.

Although we have not yet filled the financial gaps to finish all aspects of the Sloth Wellness Center, we suddenly have a strict deadline for completing the center and moving to the new location. The rental house that we have worked from for many years - with consent and support from our wonderful landlord - has to be vacated by the end of June. This fortunately coincides with what we had in mind as our deadline after we made a new planning after the weather forced us to slow down our construction efforts. So, we REALLY have to move. The urgency is clearly on all our minds, and we have even started packing in our current location, so we do not end up in a chaotic turmoil when the date nears.

However, we are still short of our funding goal, even though Postcodeloterij made a very generous gesture to help us along. We need all the animal facilities still funded, the solar power installation is not yet fully funded. So we really urgently need your help to come closer to our funding goal. So we would appreciate your help not just in making donations yourself, but also sharing our story with others who appreciate sloths and wish them to have a safe place to recover from the issues they face in the city, before we release them again into the wild.

Rescues and Release

Our rescues and releases continued on a regular basis up to the last days of December. And we resumed rescues already on the first of January. Unfortunately, the first rescued sloth of the year, succumbed to his internal lesions caused by a dog attack. We all felt very sad around this episode and such a start of our new year. After a week, the rescues again started and fortunately with much more success. Strange enough we found several animals prostrate on the ground, one in somebodies driveway, the other at the side of the road. Fortunately, they both were eager to climb the trees in their new forest home.

We are looking forward to the construction and move, and will keep you updated as we have done before.

The construction site is being prepared.

Prostrate in a driveway, before going back to wild

Links:

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Nov 22, 2016
Moving up the pace...

By Monique Pool | Director

Sanitary facilities for future visitors

You must be wondering why we are showing a picture of a white building that looks like a toilet (and indeed is a toilet), and not a picture of either a cute sloth or a fancy rehabilitation center. There is a good reason for that. To start the real construction, one important precondition to be able to work at this somewhat remote location, are sanitary facilities. So it was our first goal to build these, mostly from recycled materials, so that we can now continue at the pace of a two-fingered sloth (they move a bit faster) to construct the building.

One other thing we did in the past months, was to prepare the land by filling it up, so that it is on the same level as the access road. We also dug a drainage canal that connects to the existing drainage canal.

And then, as you may have noticed we have not yet achieved our fundraising goal on GlobalGiving. That is not to say, however, that we have not been able to fundraise at all. As you may remember, last year I was one of the finalists of CNN heroes. That has helped us fundraise towards our goal, but through the CNN platform. So we are still short of money, although we can start, we also want to finish.

Elly Waiting for her New Rehab Center

Elly probably would like to go back to the forest and be left alone as soon as she can. However, someone who thought she would make a good pet, cut off her nails. This means that Elly will have to wait for them to grow back, whether she will have the same feeling in them we do not know, because they were cut in the life. It takes 2 years for her nails to grow back, and during that time she has to stay with us, because she cannot hold on to tree branches properly and also cannot groom herself the way she is supposed to. That makes her prone to accumulation of parasites in her fur, which she normally is able to remove with her nails.

Elly and her friends Bas and Stoney who have the same long wait for their nails to grow back will be happier in the nice surroundings of our new location. The Sloth Rehabilitation Center that is coming closer to become a reality with your help.

This #GivingTuesday on GlobalGiving there will be matching funds available, so please consider donating towards our goal on the 29th of November.

Elly a long-term resident waiting for her new home

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Sep 6, 2016
When students from Tulane turned out to help Patrick, this is what happened!

By Monique Pool | Director

Patrick checks if volunteers are moving ahead

When Patrick and his team were suffering from challenges posed by the downpours of our rainy season, and we asked for help from our community, the community responded in a most wonderful way. As Patrick and his helpers started literally trying to pave a way back onto the land, he ended up with big heaps of sand that could only be made into an access road using manual labour. The soil was still too soggy for any heavy equipment to be able to access the land. And then we heard a group of visiting students from Tulane were willing and able to help us do just that. Busses were arranged, and the local volunteers showed up with shovels, wheelbarrows and enthusiasm. Before we knew, this group of 34 enthusiasts had spread the 64 cubic metres of sand around, and shaped a beautiful shellsand road in which no truck or car will get stuck anymore. Once we had done that we packed up and went to a restaurant where we treated the whole pack to a nice local lunch.

Sloth released

As a bonus for the Tulane University students we also released a beautiful two-toed sloth when we had finished our work, the animal was glad to be in a tree again and safe into a forest far from the urban dangers of deforestation, roads, dogs and people with guns. As we reported in our last report, it was not just raining water, but also raining sloths. However, the rescues and releases have even increased more now that the dry season has started. The latest rescue was a sad one, with an animal apparently having given up. We rushed it to the vet who gave it infusion fluids and looked at what I thought was a bullet wound. The next day it was again examined, one bullet was lodged in its paw, the other one in its back. For us the sign that this lucky animal will make it though is that it is eating very well, despite being in a lot of pain.

Progress

The rainy season has now stopped and we have started working on completing the construction so that before the end of the year we can move the sloths from the safe home in the city to a safe home in the forest.

It is Time-Release Bonus Day on Wednesday, September 21! With $60,000 in matching funds and $2,000 in Bonus Prizes available. Please consider making a donation on September the 21st.

Moving sand in organized manner by communicating

So listen, the sand has to go over there!

Sloth happily returning to a tree in a safe forest

Eating to stay strong and heal fast

Links:

Time lapse video of the Volunteer effort

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