When Monique Pool called the Animal Protection Society in 2005 looking for her lost dog, she never imagined that the call would change the course of her life. They told her that there was a baby sloth in their care that had been orphaned. Without a second thought, Pool offered to take the sloth in.
“I didn’t even know anything about sloths at the time,” she recalls. “But I learned all I could to take care of the sloth.” Pool contacted international experts to find out more about caring for the animals. Now she is the one everyone calls when they have a sloth in need.
Inspired to protect
Pool’s experience with the baby sloth inspired her to start a non-profit to protect sloths in Suriname, Green Heritage Fund Suriname.
Suriname is 94% forested. Despite this, the urban areas are growing rapidly to accommodate growing populations. This means that more forested land is being cleared to accommodate the growth of the urban spaces especially around the country’s capital Paramaribo. The animals are therefore losing their natural habitat fast. “They end up in people’s balconies or back gardens,” says Pool. “Others are hurt when attacked by dogs.”
According to Pool, sloths may not be endangered but they are in danger as long as their habitats are being destroyed.
A half-way house
Pool has opened her home to sloths as a temporary sanctuary. “I share my house with the sloths but they are not pets to me. I believe that wild animals belong in the wild. These sloths belong in the wild.” The ultimate goal of Pool’s non-profit is to release the sloths back into the wild.
“When the time comes, we take the animals back to the forest. We find a nice tree and let the animals go. Once they get a sniff of the forest, their energy changes. They know they are home once again. This is probably the best part of my work.”
Much more than about sloths
Although Pool is widely known as the sloth lady because of her expertise with the animal, she also takes in other small animals such as porcupines, anteaters and armadillos. She works with volunteers who have helped her rescue over 600 animals and release them back into the rainforest. Their biggest rescue was of 200 animals from a forested area that was being cleared. 160 of these animals were sloths.
Pool has become an authority on sloths. “When people call me the ‘Sloth Lady’ I don’t take it as an insult. I think of it as an honor.”
