Last week, a couple of officials from the Dallas World Aquarium (DWA), a married couple from Virginia (who write children's books), and a Panamanian boat captain (a rumored former bodyguard of Panama’s last dictator), attempted to bring eight pygmy sloths into captivity. The truth really is stranger than fiction.
The sloths were crated and brought to the tourist town of Bocas—about 50 miles away by water and outside the indigenous region that encompasses Escudo de Veraguas. Six of the captured sloths were destined for Texas. The other two were to be housed at the Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica, which receives major funding from the DWA. As the sloths were being held in a hotel in Bocas, word spread, there was a protest, and the police responded. The pygmy sloths were returned to their island the following day.
Captured pygmy sloth. Photo from The Bocas Breeze
The Dallas World Aquarium maintains it’s capture was a legitimate effort to establish a separate pygmy sloth population as conservation strategy—but this expedition is hard to look full in the face—for it was also a lucrative move on their part. Three–toed sloths have risen in social media currency. The Internet is laden with sloth memes, remix Youtube videos and celebrities gushing over captive sloths. While the DWA has been the only zoo in North American to keep three–toed sloths alive, they also capitalize on their captive sloths.
The DWA had the correct Panamanian export permits, and the USA did not require any special import permits—as it does not recognize the pygmy sloth as an endangered species. However, the DWA consulted with none of the researchers and organizations that have been working on this species, and it’s still unclear if they had permission from the Ngobe people. Their actions have triggered shock, confusion and indignation from many who have studied the pygmy sloth. We still don’t even know what they eat...
Photos taken at the Dallas World Aquarium
What the DWA tried is not really that surprising, it simply brings to focus one of the dirty secrets of international conservation efforts. Saving charismatic mammals is the best way to secure conservation money. These conservation icons must be in peril, and there must not be a simple local solution (for this cuts out the need for international organizations).
Mother Teresa, when speaking of people in need, said “If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will”. This is true too for wildlife, and even science designates “indicator” and “surrogate species” to more clearly communicate landscape-wide conservation goals. As people who work in conservation, we must be honest with ourselves about what a species really needs. Sometimes this may not line up with the most flashy or catalyzing opportunity. It is our responsibility to draw the line.
Crated pygmy sloths wait on a dock in Bocas, Panama