She Has Over 200 Sloths Living In Her Home

#1 Monique Pool

When Monique lost her long time friend and dog in 2005, she contacted Suriname Animal Protection Society in the country's capital city of Paramaribo for assistance in locating her buddy. They could not find her dog.

#2 No Dogs Allowed

That's how she learned that her rental property did not even allow residents to have pet dogs in their homes. They told her if she insisted on keeping an animal then she should adopt a sloth instead. Fast-forward to many years later, Pool has as many as 200 sloths hanging around in her home.

#3 Abundant Wildlife

Suriname, which is located in South America, is a country neighboring Brazil and Guyana. The area has been known to be home for an abundant different wildlife because of its climate, so it was no surprise for Pool and her team to find so many sloths and other tropical animals in such a small area.

#4 They Were Being Torn From The Treetops

Most of the two-toed and three-toed critters were rescued when the government began developing a 17-acre lot near her home to start raising cattle. Pool and the people from the Animal Protection Society were shocked to learn that so many sloths had lived in the area, along with a few anteaters and porcupines. They set out to try and rescue the animals but became overwhelmed.

#5 Too Many To Rescue

After being completely unprepared to rescue all of the animals because of the sheer quantity that were being physically bulldozed by construction, the Society left it up to Pool to keep working. She formed the Green Heritage Fund Suriname and enlisted the help of dozens of volunteers who keep the sloths healthy until they are capable of being released back into the wild.

#6 Working Non-Stop

Raising over 200 sloths is not an easy job. Pool found that she and her crew are working around the clock bottle feeding and gathering cecropia tree leaves to feed the adults. Most of the volunteers live nearby and are mortified that the lives of so many animals are being destroyed.

#7 They Are Territorial And Cramped In The Small Home

The sloths are weighed and examined every other day and are not exactly hassle free. Pool says her home has become a war zone at times since the sloths are known to tangle with one another over food and surroundings, both of which are in high demand in her small home. She says that sloths, in general, enjoy being left to themselves and are mostly solitary animals.

#8 She Has Become Slothified

"I have become slothified," she told Conservation International, a partner organization of the Green Heritage Fund Suriname. "Overwhelmed by sloth." Sloths can literally be found hanging around in Pool's home. As her sloth family grew, so did her knowledge of these wild animals. She is now referred to as The Sloth Lady because of her solid knowledge of the animals, noting that even zoos call her for advice on the animals.

#9 Rescuing And Releasing Is Infectious

She says that one of the most satisfying things to see when she has rescued a sloth is watching it be released back into its natural habitat. "The energy of the whole release was infectious," Pool said. "Watching them grab onto the trees and scurry up into their canopy homes was truly touching." But then she says, she learns of several others that need her help so it begins all over again.

#10 Her Home Is Full Of Sloths

In the meantime, Pool says that she sleeps in a room at night with 30 sloths hanging from the furniture and another 4 dozen in cages. Outside there are about 20 baby three-toed sloths hanging in the trees in her backyard, about two dozen more adults and babies hanging in her living room, a few in the lounge, and several others dispersed around her home and yard. She hopes to keep rescuing them and releasing them as long as possible.

#11 She Is Determined To Protect The Sloths & The Environment

Since 2005, Monique Pool and her nonprofit have rescued, rehabilitated and released more than 600 sloths and other animals to the rainforest in Suriname.

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