Being an avid traveler I am very careful when I book any type of adventure that involves animals. Please do not pay for pictures to hold animals while on vacation, often times these animals are taken out of their natural habitat and cannot survive after the stress of being handled all the time. Please never ride on an Elephant, there are so many wonderful organizations that are trying to stop this practice by giving amazing opportunities to enjoy these beautiful animals without riding on them (see my post about Chiang Mai in Thailand). Do not touch or remove items from the ocean. Take lots of pictures (I use a GoPro) but leave coral, shells and other animal life to enjoy their home.  Humans are destroying coral beds at an alarming rate and we can all do our share by protecting these spectacular environments.

About a year ago while scrolling through Facebook I came across a page for The Zoological Wildlife Conservation Center and Sloth Captive Husbandry Center * in Oregon. While Jacs and I were in Costa Rica, sloths were the one animal we really wanted to see but we never did so I was excited to plan a surprise for her and book this adventure. But first I wanted to make sure that I agreed with what they were doing. I know how deforestation and tourism can be affecting local habitats and animals. We saw this in Costa Rica with the Palm Oil Plantations and the removal of the natural forest to make room for more Palm Trees. Tourism can be done in good and bad ways, make sure that the adventure you choose is with a company that is looking to preserve species, protect natural habitats and remove animals from harmful situations.

I looked up the ZWCC website and read a few of the statements on their page (if you click the link above it will take you to a page that explains the evolution of their conservation efforts since the early 1980’s. The serious risk of endangerment of sloths in the wild, especially the pygmy sloth as there are only 67 left in the world. Their research, educational opportunities and Mission Statement. After reading this I was confident that this would be a once in a lifetime experience for us and a chance to contribute to a good cause.

We arrived at the Conservation Center and were greeted by Zach who talked about what we needed to know before entering the sloth habitat. Most important was that we talk in hushed voices and if we got too excited to step outside.  Sloths require a very stress free environment to survive.  We entered the habitat and Zach gave us some insights into the sloth world.  First we learned that they are pretty much blind and can only see about 4 inches away, they love cucumber, they communicate by touching noses, sometimes they do a weird growl/hiss at each other but not to be worried by this as this is not unusual, they are most active from midnight to 3am and they are not as slow as we thought… Watch Me Move.

For about 3 hours we got to feed and very slowly pet their back after we fed them.  This is not a petting zoo or entertainment for your kids this is a learning environment, therefore you do not hold the sloths (if there is a place that says you can then to me that is a warning sign that they are not in it for the best interest of the sloth).  At about 11:30 we climbed into our tents (there were six people including the two of us) and we fell in and out of sleep as we watched the sloths move about for the evening. One sloth went to each sloth and touched their nose, there is a pregnant sloth that we were secretly hoping would give birth but she said mostly in one of the cubbies overnight.  At about 5am they seemed to get very alert and almost all of them woke up to play and get more cucumber.  We watched and fed them until about 6:30am when we got a visit from Toula the Toucan to wind down our adventure.

I have to say that this was one of the most amazing experiences I have had.  If you get the chance to sign up for one of their programs I highly recommend it.  You leave tired but with fantastic memories. If you want to know more about this adventure please send me a message.

*These statements were true at the time of my visit. Any changes to how they operate will not be reflected in this post.