Staff at a resort in Costa Rica had to act quickly to get a lost three-toed sloth home safely after it wandered onto their property.
"Our team received an alert about a three-toed sloth that had made its way into an area near the guest rooms,” says Andrey Gomez, general manager at Tabacón Thermal Resort & Spa.
The resort’s location at the base of the Arenal Volcano and inside a 570-acre protected rainforest means that wildlife encounters aren’t entirely unexpected. “The rainforest is never just part of the scenery,” says Gomez. “Living alongside this natural richness means accepting that, at times, nature also needs us.”
So, when the sloth found its way onto the resort – one morning in August 2024 – the team sprung into action.
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It was clear that the slow-moving mammal couldn’t get back home to the forest on its own, so the team stepped in to make sure it didn’t become stressed during its accidental adventure, or worse, injured on the nearby road.
“For us, these kinds of encounters are not unusual; they are part of the natural dynamics of a forest that continues to be home to hundreds of species,” says Gomez, explaining that the team is trained to follow wildlife response protocols should something like this happen. “Following our internal wildlife management protocol, specially trained team members responded to the site to assess the situation,” he says.
Their goal was to get the sloth home quickly and safely without disturbing it – human contact had to be minimised as much as possible.
Their goal was to get the sloth home quickly and safely without disturbing it
When they arrived at the scene, they could see the sloth on a structure of the building, high up and out of reach. They propped a ladder up to help them get closer.
But they had to think of a new strategy when the sloth decided it wanted to climb onto the ladder and hang out there. “The sloth decided to cling to it, turning it into an improvised bridge,” he says. “That was when a solution as simple as it was effective emerged.”
The team realised they could use the ladder as a means of transport to get the sloth back to the tree canopy.
In the footage, the proud sloth can be seen riding the ladder like a queen on a carriage, seemingly enjoying its private chauffeur journey back to the forest.
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Once they made it back to the rainforest, the Tabacón team popped the creature on a tree trunk (while wearing protective gloves) and off it went. “From there, the sloth continued on its own, slowly climbing toward the forest canopy,” says Gomez. “Unhurriedly, following the pace that characterises its species, the sloth left the ladder and slowly climbed until it disappeared once again into the forest canopy.”
This entire escapade took “just a matter of minutes”, says Gomez, who was delighted with the success of the rescue.
“In the end, conserving an extraordinary place is not simply about protecting a landscape,” he says. “It is about ensuring that every living being that calls it home can always find its way back.”
Image and video credit: Tabacón Thermal Resort & Spa
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