ConservationReleased SlothsSloth Diaries
Two years ago, we found Merlin completely covered with fungal scabs and with a very old eye injury that left him vision impaired with only one functioning eye. These scabs were painful and were slowly killing him by causing dehydration and secondary bacterial infection. The scabs were so obvious on his face that as soon as we saw him, we knew he needed help.
As the scabs started to fall off, his hair fell off as well – leaving him looking a little ‘different’ and like an old man. We actually have no idea how old Merlin is, but he is likely an older adult.
The wounds to Merlin’s skin were so deep that It took him 8 months to fully heal.
Merlin was in our care for a long time, and during that time we grew to love him and enjoy giving him his treatments, including weekly medicated baths. He probably only loved his pedialyte and he grew to tolerate us…but he never lost that wild spirit and desire to be free! After such a long recovery period, Merlin was finally released last year with a tracking collar. Since then we have been able to find him every day and we know that not only is he doing ok back in the wild, he is thriving!
He is one of our favorite sloths with an amazing success story.
Merlin proves that we can and will never give up on any sloth that needs our help.
In addition, he showed that he wasn’t too old or too disabled to make it back in the wild on his own, paving the way for many sloths that we have rehabilitated and released since.
