Manuel Antonio National Park
The Great Release of "Little Buddy", The Incredible Sloth!
By Jennifer Rice
Jun 7, 2002, 16:48

Little Buddy, the one and a half year old, adorable, 3 toed [not so slow] sloth has now been successfully released! April 15th was the miraculous day—back to the wild! The preparation for this day started on November 22, 2001, Thanksgiving Day in the USA. This was the day that she was released into the wild with her amazing wildlife tracking collar, a sophisticated and expensive system.

The collar and antenna, attached to Buddy, was tracked by a complicated machine with nobs, buttons, and dials and an antenna similar to a TV’s rabbit ears. The volunteers looked like they were straight out of a Sci Fi movie as they walked through the jungle looking for the ever elusive Buddy, who appeared to be playing hide and seek! Everyone was looking, but nobody more often then Chip, Jennifer, Janine and Lizzy, the backbones of Kids Saving The Rainforest. A Buddy sighting was an event of extreme excitement and daily sightings were mandatory for the serenity off all involved! In order to realize the extent of our emotions, one must know that Buddy is family, and she was off on her own for the first time. 

Her first extended trip out in the wild was achieved in February after a year of preparation. Her preparation was no easy task, with vounteeers spending up to 3 hours a day teaching her to swim in rivers, (very necessary to their survival in the wild), and to eat on her own, not having her meals brought to her. She had to learn what she liked to eat and how to eat it, and that was a decision we let her have. (Note of interest: sloths eat different leaves than their sloth neighbors so that they can co-habitate in close proximity.) She was out for 6 nights and 7 days, playing in the rainforest, going from tree to tree, quite happy with her new freedom!

Then it was time to bring her in to have the vet check her vital statistics to see how she had fared. With a 100% medical clearance, she went out again, this time for 2 weeks. Once again, great news, the vet gave her an all clear report. Her last and final test lasted a full 5 weeks, and this time when she was brought back in she was a bit feisty and probably not a happy camper. It appeared that she had made the adjustment and liked being in the wild and didn’t want to have anything to do with us humans. We told her that she would no longer have to wear the cumbersome collar if she would just let us bring her in one last time, then she would be free forever.

She finally conceded, and wow, had she grown up! She was bigger, healthy, weighed more than last time, and the vet was thrilled with her development. We are so grateful that the love and care of this baby sloth has come full circle. She is a huge success story of a baby wild animal that was able to be raised without the confinement of a cage so that her spirit would not die and be successfully released. She was brought to us on January 2nd, 2001, at the age of 2 1/2 months by a neighbor who found her caught up in barbed wire, being bitten by ants, with a sprained wrist, probably from falling from a tree and not being able to get back to her mother. (Mother sloths believe in survival of the fittest and will not always get a baby sloth that has fallen.) She would have definitely died if we had not taken her in and raised her.

We have two other sloths that we are rehabilitating: Baby, who is now 11 months and found near our pool, abandoned and almost dead, she is getting ready for her release into the wild, and Valentina, who was brought to us from another hotel where she fell out of a tree on Valentine’s Day. She has a long way to go but is already finding leaves she likes to eat on her own! The joy of watching baby sloths grow into adolescents and learn to live on their own is a gift beyond belief! Thank you, Little Buddy, for sharing part of your childhood at Kids Saving The Rainforest and giving the perrenial smile to all! God bless you and good luck in your journey!

You can contact KSTR at 777-2592 - visit the wesite www.kidssavingthe rainforest.org. Your tax deductible donations (501(C) status) are welcome - our mailing address is APDO 297, Quepos, Costa Rica 6350.