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JUNE'S SLOTH OF THE MONTH: MEET HANNAH
Some sloths arrive at TSI with a single, straightforward challenge to overcome. And then there’s Hannah…
When this little orphan came to us from Parrita on April 13th, she was carrying just about everything that can go wrong for a baby sloth at once: diarrhea, a bladder infection, troubled skin, and pneumonia. The odds were not in her favor. And yet, somehow, Hannah had no interest in giving up.
What Happened Before She was Rescued
Hannah was orphaned and left in the care of well-meaning humans before arriving at TSI. Like many rescued baby sloths, she had been given cow’s milk, something that seems harmless enough, but is actually dangerous for sloth digestion. A sloth’s gut is one of the most specialized in the animal kingdom: slow, pH-sensitive, and completely unsuited for dairy. This can cause exactly the kind of cascading health problems Hannah arrived with.
"The road to 'helping' a wild animal can sometimes cause harm without anyone realizing it. Hannah's case is a reminder of why specialized care from the very first moment matters so much."
A Long Road to Better
Our team got to work immediately. Treating pneumonia in a sloth requires a delicate touch, they’re fragile animals, sensitive to stress and temperature, and rehabbing compromised skin and fur takes patience that can only be measured in weeks, not days. Hannah’s digestive system had to be completely reset with the right species-appropriate nutrition.
Through it all, Hannah has been… well, she’s been, Hannah. Impossibly sweet. The kind of patient that makes the long shifts worth every minute.
Where She is Now
We’re happy to report that Hannah is doing much better but she’s not fully out of the woods yet. She’s still in active rehabilitation, being carefully monitored as her body continues to heal. Every week brings improvement, and our team is cautiously optimistic about her progress.
A Little Sloth Science: Why Diet Is Everything
What sloths should NOT eat:
🚫 Cow’s milk or any dairy: lacks the correct proteins and triggers digestive upset
🚫 Most vegetables: sloths have a highly specific leaf-based diet
🚫 Fruit in large amounts: high sugar is damaging to their slow metabolism
Baby sloths in the wild nurse on their mothers’ milk for months before slowly transitioning to leaves, a process that allows their gut microbiome to develop gradually. When that process is short-circuited by the wrong food, the damage can be severe and lasting.
Hannah’s recovery is a testament to both her resilience and the painstaking work of proper rehabilitation.
Stories like Hannah’s don’t happen without your support.
Every rescue, every round of medication, every careful feeding, every sleepless night our team spends monitoring a sick sloth, it’s all made possible by people who care.
Hannah still has a road ahead of her. Help us see her through it.
