ConservationPublications
Enjoy this special contribution from Jenna Heinze! TSI has the fortunate of having her here in Costa Rica for six months. How has it been so far? Read on!
Hi everyone! I’m Jenna the Chief Sloth Nurse here at TSI. I’m from Philadelphia where I have been a veterinary technician for 16 years with the last 12 of them at the Philadelphia Zoo. I started my partnership with TSI in 2017 where I was granted money from the Association of Zoo Vet Techs to come to help out Sam in the WiSH lab. She was interested in having me come and use my tech skills to help her advance the care of the sloths in rehab and to learn more about the wild sloths in the area. I was so excited and honored to be able to come and provide my assistance and use my skills in the field to help these amazing creatures!
After my month here I realized I wanted to continue helping out TSI even if from home so I set them up with an online animal records program which I maintain as well as continued to provide advice from afar. This past year it became clear to me I NEEDED to come back and follow my heart’s passion. So I packed my things and came to Manuel Antonio in March and will be here through the end of September!
My days here are filled with feeding the orphaned sloths we are raising and providing care to the sloths here recovering from injury or illness. Also, I have been helping to raise one very spicy tamandua, Schumer! It has been such a rewarding experience getting to be here long term and really immerse myself in the mission of TSI. I have been out on a few sloth rescues and seeing first hand the peril these sloths are facing daily and learning more how this non-profit works to protect them as best as they can.
After my month here I realized I wanted to continue helping out TSI even if from home so I set them up with an online animal records program which I maintain as well as continued to provide advice from afar. This past year it became clear to me I NEEDED to come back and follow my heart’s passion. So I packed my things and came to Manuel Antonio in March and will be here through the end of September!
My days here are filled with feeding the orphaned sloths we are raising and providing care to the sloths here recovering from injury or illness. Also, I have been helping to raise one very spicy tamandua, Schumer! It has been such a rewarding experience getting to be here long term and really immerse myself in the mission of TSI. I have been out on a few sloth rescues and seeing first hand the peril these sloths are facing daily and learning more how this non-profit works to protect them as best as they can.
With my lab skills, we are able to process blood and other samples quickly to help improve the care we can give our sloths. I also have helped get some automated blood machines loaned so we can take advantage of them as well to collect more sloth data and help with diagnostics.
My most rewarding case thus far is with Humpty Dumpty. I am sure if you follow our page you have seen his story. To see this tiny little baby be so incredibly resilient after such a rough start (which I fully admit I was very guarded with his outcome) was amazing. Day after day watching his progress and see him become more active and doing all the things a healthy baby sloth would do was amazing. Today he is regressing normally and as Sam refers to him every day is a “Perfect Baby”! Animals are so amazing
with their healing and resilience. I am excited to watch him grow over the next 4 months I am here and be a part of his progression to eventual release one day!
I am looking forward to the next few months and helping Sam and her crew further the TSI mission and discovering more about these 2 species. We do not have 3-fingered sloths in the states so learning more about them and seeing how they differ so much from their 2-fingered friends has been quite interesting.
I am honored to be a part of the TSI family and hope to continue to provide the skills and help I can even after I go home in September.
Wow Jenna I am so happy you have this exciting opportunity to follow your passion. What an incredible story. We are so proud of you. You have worked so hard and the fact that you love what you do and are able to help these animals in such a beautiful place is wonderful. Thank you for sharing this great story with everyone.