GREEN HERITAGE FUND, SURINAME

Sloth Rescue in Suriname

In Suriname, Justin Mott documents Monique Pool’s sloth rescue work as she saves, rehabilitates, and releases sloths threatened by forest loss and rapid development.

Meet Monique Pool, 55, often referred to as the “Sloth Lady” of Suriname. She’s the founder and director of Green Heritage Fund and her organization has rescued over 1000 sloths since their inception in 2005.

Pool is the latest subject of my project Kindred Guardians, this is her story.

Monique Pool, 55 transports a rescued two-toed sloth from Suriname’s capital of Paramaribo to her rehabilitation center in the heavily forested region of Saramacca, Suriname.

Brown sloth clinging to a tree, reaching for green leaves to eat in a lush rainforest.

Aerial view of a winding river through a forest at sunset, with a glowing sun low on the horizon.

Rescue worker on a boat lifts a large plastic animal crate while a wet brown otter clings to a towel nearby.

Person in a beige bucket hat and navy shirt leaning on a boat railing on a wide muddy river with dense green banks and a blue sky filled with clouds behind him.

Sloth gripping horizontal bars with long claws, dark background behind.

A sloth perched in a bowl on a kitchen scale while a person records it on a smartphone nearby.

Woman in a green shirt smiles at a gray koala reaching over a wooden table on a deck railing backdrop.

Volunteer sprays water on a brown dog inside a metal crate, using a yellow hose outdoors.

An overview of the landscape of Pool’s rehabilitation center in Saramacca, Suriname.
Many of the sloths are rescued from the nearby capital city of Paramaribo and transported to the less populated Saramacca district where Pool checks on their health and then releases them into the jungle.

Eva Scheltens, a Dutch veterinarian living in Suriname, volunteers at the Green Heritage Fund rehabilitation center.

Here, she checks on the formerly rescued sloth named Ostrich, suspected of being severely dehydrated. A few weeks after this check-up, ostrich passed away at only 2 years old.

Ostrich, a formerly rescued sloth who now lives nearby the rehabilitation center in the wild stops in for a visit.

Pool’s organization the Green Heritage Fund runs from a combination of her own money, private donations, crowdfunding, and support from a charitable organization in Germany called Welttierschutzgesellschaft.

A three-toed sloth named “19th of November” searches for food nearby Pool’s rehabilitation center. This three-toed sloth received her name because she was the last sloth rescued on November 19th, 2012 during her biggest rescue ever and what she calls “slothegeddon” (sloth Armageddon).

During “slothegeddon” 141 sloths and 40 plus other animals were rescued, many staying at Pool’s own home in the city, when a plot of forest land within the city limits was developed.

Pool transports a rescued sloth found in someone’s garage in Paramaribo back into the wild in Saramacca. Pool says the biggest threats to the sloths in Suriname are urbanization, human infrastructure such as roads, deforestations, and climate change as severe droughts have heavily effected the population.

Ostrich was raised at the center for one and a half years and then released into the wild. Although she now lives in the jungle nearby, she regularly stops by the center.

Climate change leading to drought severely effects sloths as many of the leaves they feed on die and fall to the ground causing mothers to abandon their babies in search of food. In March 2019 after a severe drought swept the area. Pool, who said she normally receives two to three calls a week for rescues was getting one to two a day, many died from dehydration.

Pool grew up in The Netherlands and moved to Suriname when she was 12 years old. She’s a Surinamese national and before becoming the “Sloth Lady” as many people refer to her as, she was a full-time professional translator.

More than 90% of the South American country of Suriname is covered in rain forest making it the most forested country in the world. It is home to both two and three toed sloths and due to increased development, the habitat of both species of sloths is now being severely threatened.

Pool takes a small boat down the Saramacca river to release a rescued sloth back into the wild. When searching for places to release the sloths, she seeks uninhabited areas hopefully not destined to be deforested and with similar eco-systems to where they came from.

Pool weighs and photographs a rescue sloth named Ostrich at her rehabilitation center in Saramacca, Suriname.

Ostrich received her name because as a baby she was found hanging out near the ostriches at the zoo in Paramaribo separated from her mother.

Pool began rescuing sloths in 2005 while she was looking for her dog at the animal protection society in Paramaribo. They had a baby sloth looking for a home so she helped and from there every time they had a rescued sloth come in, they called her.

Pool hand feeds water to a severely dehydrated three-toed sloth at her rehabilitation center.

Monique Pool (left) and volunteer veterinarian Eva Scheltens check on a severely dehydrated sloth living nearby the rehabilitation center.

Pool also takes calls in the evening for rescues as two-toed sloths are nocturnal, making it a busy time for her. She often handles the calls and rescues after work hours by herself.

The Green Heritage Fund Suriname has a 7 full-time employees and dozens of volunteers.

In 2015 Pool was nominated as a CNN Hero for her work in sloth rescue.

A rescued two-toed sloth rests in a kennel before being released back into the wild. Two-toed sloths and three toed sloths are two different species entirely, two-toed sloths being nocturnal and three-toed sloths are diurnal.

Pool receives no funding from the government and states that there is no official government program for sloth rescue in Suriname leaving her as their only hope.

Pool isn’t a trained veterinarian or wildlife specialist so she relies on people like volunteer veterinarian Eva Scheltens to help when the sloths show signs of illness.

Pool takes out an injured sloth from a kennel for his rehab session for a broken arm.

Pool assist volunteer veterinarian Eva Scheltens in rehabilitating an injured sloth who broke his arm after being bit by a dog.

A laborer in the city of Paramaribo flashes the light to show Pool a two-toed sloth that he found living in his tree.

When asked about the future of sloths in Suriname Pool explains that she “I’m worried for them because of climate change, deforestation, and an increase in illegal gold mining. However, she says “Suriname is the most forested country in the world and the most beautiful country and if we can conserve it, we have the opportunity to set an example for the rest of the world.

Pool says she’s fascinated with sloths and can watch them for hours. She adds “people often think they are lazy but they aren’t they just contemplating where to grab onto next.”

Pool’s efforts in conservation and sloth rescue are a combination of being self-taught and reaching out for help to sloth specialists in Brazil and Costa Rica.

Pool hands out a leaflet about sloths and her organization to a farmer in the outskirts of Paramaribo instructing him where to call if he comes upon a sloth in need of help.

Suriname is the most forested country in the world but as the capital city of Paramaribo expands, many of the forest fragments in the city, which are home to the country’s native sloths, are being destroyed leaving nowhere for them to live.

Ostrich, a former rescue sloth living in the wild adjacent to the rehabilitation center lies on a table before receiving a health check-up.

Pool carries a rescued sloth to her van after receiving a late-night call from a concerned laborer who found the sloth living in his tree outside his home in Paramaribo.

Pool nets a two-toed sloth by herself (no easy task as they can also bite), and then transports him to her rehabilitation center where she will check his health and then release him back into the wild father away from the city limits.

An overview of the uninhabited jungle surrounding Saramacca River where pool releases all her rescued sloths. The sloths she rescues from the city of Paramaribo often come from forest fragments, or forest islands as she likes to call them. Sloths tend to wander in search for food and trees to climb and as the city develops they are running out of space and end up on people’s property.

Pool releases a two-toed sloth into the wild in Saramacca, Suriname.
The Green Heritage Fund was founded in 2005 and they’ve rescued over 1000 sloths so far.

In addition to her work rescuing sloths Pool also works heavily on conservation issues in Suriname focusing on dolphins and ocean protection.

Pool washes and checks the health of a recently rescued two-toed sloth at her rehabilitation center in Saramacca, Suriname.

The Sloth Lady of Suriname

This sloth rescue story follows Monique Pool, the CNN Hero known across Suriname as the sloth lady. She founded the Green Heritage Fund Suriname in 2005 after going to look for a missing dog and coming home with a rescued sloth. With no formal training and a lot of volunteers, she has since rescued, rehabilitated, and relocated more than 1,000 of them.

Sloth Rescue During Slothageddon

Her best-known rescue has a name. During what she calls Slothageddon, Pool and her team saved 141 sloths and more than 40 other animals cleared out of the forest by new development. Many of them recovered in her own house.

What sloths are up against

Suriname is the most forested country on Earth, and that forest is under pressure. Logging, urban sprawl, illegal gold mining, and longer droughts push sloths out of the canopy and into trouble. "If we can conserve it," Pool says of her country, "we have the opportunity to set an example for the rest of the world."

This story is part of my ongoing Kindred Guardians project. See more of my long-term documentary work in Personal Projects.