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September 2026Sloth-of-the-Month
Dolly the Sloth: A Life Fully lived
Every sloth who comes through our doors has a story. Dolly’s name honors someone we all very much admire at The Sloth Institute.
She was named after Dolly Parton, and this past August, we lost the woman who inspired that name. This month, we want to honor her memory through the sloth who carries it: a sloth whose recovery, against real odds, mirrors the lesson Dolly Parton spent a lifetime teaching: hardship can be turned into something beautiful.
Dolly the sloth’s own story began in early 2019, when she arrived at The Sloth Institute after an electrocution injury on a power line left her right arm partially paralyzed. It is one of the most common reasons sloths need our help, and one of the clearest signs of how much this work matters in a rainforest crossed by power lines.
Our team tried something new for Dolly: acupuncture. Over several months, under the care of Dr. Constant Boshoff of Rafiki Chiropractic Care, she slowly regained movement and strength in her arm. As part of her rehabilitation, our Sloth Director, Sam Trull, took her swimming, and Dolly did something no one expected. She swam! It turns out that swimming therapy is a great rehabilitation method for recovering electrocution patients.
By July 2019, Dolly was fully recovered and ready to go home. She was released back into the rainforest canopy, exactly where she belonged. From that day forward, every year she spent wild and free was a direct result of the care that got her there.
This year, we said goodbye to Dolly Parton. Seven years later, Dolly is still out there, somewhere in the rainforest, living the life every rescued sloth deserves. A wild one. A free one. That is what this work is for.
That is why this September, we are naming Dolly our Sloth of the Month and turning her story into a campaign in her honor.
Our Sloth Hero adoption is the same kind of support that helped Dolly heal. It funds essential food, medical care, enrichment, and safe shelter for orphaned and injured sloths in our program, which has a 90% successful return-to-the-wild rate. Adopters at this tier receive a digital adoption certificate, a bio sheet on their sloth, a signed photo, and a private live video chat with a TSI expert for a behind-the-scenes look at rehabilitation.
A Sloth Hero adoption is normally $500. This September, in Dolly’s memory, it is half that: $250 for the whole month!
Not ready for a $250 Hero adoption?
A Sloth Advocate adoption is $35, a Sloth Protector is $100, and a Sloth Champion, at $250, includes many of the same touches as a Hero this month. Every one of these adoptions counts toward our goal.
Our goal is 40 Sloth Heroes adopters by September 30, enough to fund real rescue and release work for sloths who are just beginning the journey Dolly already finished.
How to Get Involved
Adopt a Sloth Hero. For $250 through September 30, you can fund the kind of care that gave Dolly her wild life back.
Share her story. Send this post to someone who loves sloths, or share it on your own social media.
Stay tuned. October is Sloth Month, also known as Slothtober, and we have a full month of celebration planned. Consider this the beginning.
Dolly’s story did not end when she left our care in 2019. It continued for years, quietly, in the canopy, exactly where she belonged. This September, help us write that same kind of ending for another sloth in her name.
SLOTH HERO 50% OFF $500
$250 donation you’ll receive:
- A personalized digital Adoption Certificate
- A detailed Bio Sheet of your adopted sloth
- A signed photo of this month’s featured sloth or a sloth of your choice
- A private LIVE video chat with a TSI sloth expert and a behind-the-scenes view of sloths currently in rehabilitation
- Your chance to ask all your sloth questions, straight from the source!
SLOTH ADVOCATE
$35 donation you’ll receive:
As a Sloth Advocate, you’ll receive a personalized digital Adoption Certificate featuring either our Sloth of the Month or a sloth of your choice.
SLOTH PROTECTOR
$100 donation you’ll receive:
- A personalized digital Adoption Certificate
- A detailed Bio Sheet of your adopted sloth
- A signed photo of this month’s featured sloth or a sloth of your choice
SLOTH CHAMPION
$250 donation you’ll receive:
- A personalized digital Adoption Certificate
- A detailed Bio Sheet of your adopted sloth
- A signed photo of this month’s featured sloth or a sloth of your choice
- A 1-minute personalized video from a TSI sloth expert and a sloth in rehab, choose from a friendly hello, a birthday wish, or a unique holiday greeting!
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