To conserve juvenile sloths and give them a shot at life, a nature conservationist by the name of Sam Trull established the Sloth Institute in Costa Rica in 2014.
This facility serves as a sanctuary for young sloths abandoned by their mothers and teaches them the basics of survival.
For young sloths to survive in the wild, they need to learn the skills taught at this school.
Sam Trull created a unique technique that she dubbed the “soft-release method.”
The shelter’s staff built a large 6-meter cage to use this method.
The animals are placed in a cage with doors that eventually open. They allow them to walk about freely until they are completely independent.
Sam Trull said that the method’s eventual result is for sloths to spend more and more time outside of their cage. They eat more and more wild foods until they are completely wild themselves.
Although Sam is the one who instructs the young sloths in life skills, she claims that she has also learned a lot from them.
“They instilled in me a never-give-up attitude and the realization that the only way to advance in life is to keep going with the knowledge that there is always one more to overcome,” she added.
Sam’s profession involves releasing trained sloths into the wild, which is the hardest part.
Even in this situation, the shelter staff continues to observe its “graduates,” observing their assimilation and contact with wild sloths.
The pompous moniker “institute” of this location is not accidental; despite extensive research into the natural world, little is still known about sloths and their behavior.
Sam said that sloths taught her how to love and that she now loves them completely.
