ANIMAL LOVER - How we saved a sloth
Saving a Sloth
Plenty of times I’ve had the opportunity to encounter an animal or animals in danger or in need of help. Today is the first time I share one of my experiences on social media, not trying to pretend to be a hero, but trying to motivate others to do the same.
You don't need to have plenty of money to donate to an ONG to become an Animal hero, and you don't need to be part of an organization either. Even though I appreciate and congrat those that dedicate their lives and money to saving animals around the world, I want to dedicate this post to all of you who have had a small opportunity to help an animal, or motivate to never hesitate when nature calls your help!
In Panama, the streets or highways in the countryside can be very dangerous because of the lack of safety, sidewalks or police presence in some areas. A lot of time you will encounter animals trying to cross the street like the sloth, which is one of the most interesting animals of Panama.
I would like to do a parenthesis here about this animal.
Well, in this beautiful country you will find 3 types of sloth: the two-toed, three-toed and the Pygmy Sloth. The first two are spread over the country, although the Pygmy Sloth, is the smallest of the sloths and considered an endemic species.
If you want to learn more about sloths in Panama, here is a cool post of a steemer @hilarski Panama Has 3 Types of Sloth!
One day, on a road trip from Chiriquí Province to Bocas del Toro, I was with my friends Julio and Manuel. While I was driving I could see how other cars were avoiding something on the street. When we were getting closer, there she was! A female sloth in the middle of the street trying to cross to the other side.
We knew we had to stop to help her because sloths move very slowly. That is why we call this animal in Spanish “Oso Perezoso” (Lazy Bear). Even though we knew the speed limit was 100 kms / hour, we decided to take the risk and pull over, since we could see cars coming from both directions.
Most of the time people don't care, but there are good people out there too. Like the Panamanian family that also stopped on the road to help us.
Later we learned that when they are on the ground, sloths can only move about five to six feet a minute. It made us happy, that we saved her life. Without us a car would definitely have hit her.
Some locals are used to grab sloths from the back, but apparently, in the wild, sloths can be very dangerous, specially the 2 toed sloth. They can slash you with a single swipe with their claws and cause severe damage. So try always to avoid touching a wild animal.
I hope you liked this post. Please share your experience if you ever have the opportunity to save an animal, it does not matter how. If this post motivates you at least to always have an eye open in your daily life, then the objective of this post has been reached.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. (Ghandi)
Sloth - It kinda of freaks me out looking at it. Idk it looks so similar to us humans. But fascinating post anyway.
It does look like sloths are smiling, but it's very misleading. Lots of tourists want to take selfies with sloths who just like dolphins, have a "happy face", but are actually terrified.
Saving an animal is really nice. You did well. I hope most people will learn to do the same.
@seyiodus.
I agree, it drives me crazy see people not caring. Unfortunately is a reality, but like I said: there is plenty of good people out there that do care. I guess the solution starts in education!
Keep being awesome! i want to hug the sloth!
thanks @krazykrista you will want to hug many other animals I am able and lucky to see where I live: Bocas Animals If you ever have the opportunity to come to Panama for vacation, never doubt to shoot me a message!
I knew they were slow, but don't think I realized they were that slow! lol regardless, really kind gesture of you all to help her get across safely. :)
they can actually react quickly when they are in danger (like being attacked by an animal for instance), but not so much while crossing street =)
perhaps she was just not sensing that "danger" *(crossing the street, I mean)! lol - but yeah, I figure that would definitely be the case if they felt threatened, as a "slow swipe" wouldn't likely be able to do this:
hey @alexpmorris I hope this new week finds your with good spirits! The Sloth have slow movement but they can be very fast when swiping if they feel threatened, I have seen it! Best thing to do, leave the wild animal alone, although when crossing that street, we had to do an exception =)
The thing is, they are most vulnerable on the ground. They only come down to poop, and are not really made for "walking". They move fastest when they are hanging upside down. A friend of mine saw a sloth attack a dog on the ground once, as the dog came a little too close..
Amazing story. And with the mess that is going in the UK with the law saying animals dont feel pain... that is ridiculous. As human beings we need to use our brain and do the best for the nature.
WOW! after reading this comment @sergiomendes I right away starting to research about, this law is not official yet as I understood. This is crazy, I cant believe this coming from a country that is suppose to have a higher level of education. Is all about the money, so the pets do feel pain but the wild animals (for hunting), lab aniamls, and the animals for commerce (meat) are the ones that dont feel pain?
I really hope the citizens of the UK and animal rights activists will fight against this, if there is anything we can do internationally, we should. I have been trying to find petitions online but I cant find any, if you know please let me know.
I just read this recent post from the Independent we should all share that!
Thanks for letting me know man, this is fucked up! (sorry for cursing).
Yeah it is a freaking annoying and stressing situation. As you said specially coming of a country like England. It is so upsetting because here laws always protected animals. That people are just going crazy.
That is such a wonderful thing you did! It made my day. :)
Please reply to this comment if you accept or decline.
Muxxybot is a Curation account that features chosen posts, selected and voted on by the Curation team. If featured, your post will be shared on Muxxybot's post, which will be resteemed by @gmuxx. The author will then get added to Muxxybot's voting list for automatic votes on all future posts.
Thank you @lenadr I accept!
This is a great message, thank you so much for sharing. So much cuteness, so much slowness <3
haha yeah right? thank you for appreciating it!
Welcomeeeee!
Great post, and thanks for caring about animals in Bocas del Toro. I know I can always count on you guys for anything related to saving animals here.
beautiful story =)
thanks @evecab the idea I have is to make people share their stories so more people will get motivated to do the same! sometimes animals need human help and we owe them that!
Congratulations. This post is featured in today's Muxxybot curation post.https://steemit.com/curation/@muxxybot/muxxybot-curation-42