Because most of the sloths that we receive in the Center arrived as orphans, we created a Rehabilitation Program that has been working for the past 15 years to reintroduce them back into the wild.

How is the process?
When the baby first arrived, is checked by our Veterinarian Team. If the sloth is healthy, is moved to the Nursery; if not, it will stay at the clinic until it is healthy enough to be moved.

Steps a baby sloth has to follow to be released

Step 1: Preschool
Only the healthy sloths are moved to preschool, which is the term we use for animals under 6 months. Here the Nursery Team feeds them and takes care of all the babies around the same age.

Step 2: High School
The next stage goes from 6 months to one and a half years, where sloths are raised together and are fed mainly with 4 different types of leaves. We provide them with the leaves that sloths might find in the wild, also depending on their place of release.

Step 3: Pre-release Enclosure
After the sloth gains a certain weight or size, they are moved to the pre-release enclosure which is located in the forest. This enclosure will help them adapt to their natural habitat, and they are mainly fed with leaves.

Step 4: Get ready to be released
All the sloths that will be released have a microchip under the skin, and we make a braid in their backs with some color thread so we can identify them (this is useful to spot them in the trees for a few weeks after their release).

Step 5: Release
What is taken into consideration for a sloth to be released is the weight gained in the last months, their behavior in the enclosure, and the appearance of algae and moths, which develops after being transferred to the pre-release enclosure, this alga is an indication of adaptation to the habitat.

We mainly released sloths in National Parks like Cahuita National Park and Conservation Forests.