Baby Sloth Born at Costa Rican 'Slothspital'

It’s hard to believe that this especially cuddly 15-oz. baby sloth was actually a mistake. Don’t worry, we’ve made a vow never to tell him when he gets older! According to Costa Rica’s Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary, one of their 8-year-old Bradypus (three-fingered) sloths ended up preggers when “a wild sloth mated with our female through the cyclone fence enclosures,” co-founder Judy Avey-Arroyo (slothsanctuary) tells PEOPLE Pets.

Nevertheless, the “accident” has been a special treat for the sanctuary that usually takes in baby sloths that have been injured or orphaned by car accidents, power lines, natural disasters or hunting. In 18 years, Avey-Arroyo and her husband Luis Arroyo have released 74 sloths back to the wild and care for 124 more at their hotel, sanctuary and “slothspital” near the Caribbean coast. But they’ve only had six births like this one.

This unique oasis started after an earthquake in 1991 when some neighborhood girls brought the innkeepers an orphaned baby sloth – at first, they didn’t know what to do with the leggy creature and neither did anyone else. So, once the Arroyos figured it out, the sloths just kept on coming. Eventually the Arroyos “gave in utterly and completely to the sloths” and created the sanctuary.

Their first sloth, named Buttercup, is the star and regal ambassador of the Aviaros Sloth Sanctuary. “She reigns from her basket chair/throne, reaching out to guests as though to shake their hand as they stand and gaze at her,” Avey-Arroyo says. “She hates trees.” That’s where sloths spend most of their lives, coming down only briefly to defecate. Another sloth, Melaza, hates being outside and now stays in the nursery, where she helps care for young orphans.

The unique sanctuary hopes to foster respect for the sloths and protect their dwindling habitat. School groups and tourists visit their center— sometimes to volunteer, and sometimes to stay the night. “People are amazed at how beautiful they are up close, how sweet and gentle,” Avey-Arroyo says. “The serenity that they have about themselves strikes most people as completely at odds with what they had imagined a sloth would be.” Sloths are not lazy, she insists; they deserve a better name.

When the Arroyos realized how little is known about the creatures, they wrote a book on sloth care for zoos and vets. They work with researchers and hope to set up a vet training facility. The whole family—including a daughter and four sons—have been won over by the sloths. She hopes their enthusiasm is contagious.

Curious about sloths? Visit the Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary’s Web site, where you can donate or “adopt” a sloth online.

Check out pictures of the “Slothspital’s” latest patients!

Carol Vinzant