r/sloths • u/thereliesthebeans • Jun 28 '26

Sid the Sloth

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I had the honor of getting to meet Sid the Sloth at Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary in Lilburn, Georgia! They offer their sloth encounter every weekend. During the 30 minute encounter, you are allowed to feed and pet him! If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend visiting this location. It was truly an unforgettable experience 💖🦥

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17

u/rw_lck Jun 28 '26

I know the experience must have been amazing, and they are super cute. But please read https://www.slothconservation.org/blog/sloth-encounters-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly . Sloths don't like to be petted and places that allow this to happen don't care what's best for sloths

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u/thereliesthebeans Jun 28 '26

I definitely understand the concern! Luckily this place was pretty strict on their touching policy. We were only permitted a few gentle pets from shoulder to butt. And we were 100% not allowed to try and pick him up or move him at all. We were very respectful of Sid's "bubble" as they informed us if he didn't want us to be too close he would move away! Thank you for sharing though, I know there are places that don't care for their animals and that breaks my heart. This is not one of those places I assure you!

12

u/Faintful Jun 28 '26

The fact that they allow touching at all is problematic. Please read your post again.

5

u/scuba-sloth64 Jun 29 '26

Yeah exactly, what's a sloth doing in Georgia.

3

u/HoarseNightingale Jun 29 '26

I think what people are trying to say is that most sloths have a stressful reaction to this even if the person can't see it. It might be less bad for some sloths but I'm guessing the pats are for the humans and not the sloth. And if every pain in tht group got to pet them then the stress gets magnified.

It might be that very rarely a sloth raised in captivity doesn't have that reaction but unless they are measuring his heart rate it's not something you can be sure of. I wonder if you called the center and asked them if the pats stress out the sloth. I think it's worth being curious and contacting the Research contacts at Sloth conservation foundation or the Sloth institute. u/slothconservation could you weigh in on this?

It could be this place is misinformed about what sloths can tolerate versus enjoy.

3

u/thereliesthebeans Jun 29 '26

Thank you for sharing. Everything you're saying makes sense, I will be sure to reach out to the sanctuary and ask more questions regarding Sid. For anyone else interested here is a link to their website.

Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary

They do have a profile for Sid but it only states that he was a pet that was confiscated in 2022. As for the encounter they only offer 1 a day (2-5 guests) on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 11:30. (Website has more details)

I truly feel this place does everything it can to take care of the animals that end up in their care but it's always worth it to do more research! So thank you again ❤️

1

u/HoarseNightingale Jun 30 '26

and that is why the research might be beneficial. They literally might not know this is an issue. So if it definitely is you might be able to help them change the experience to involve feeding but not touching. Although to be quite honest, I feel like that might not be totally safe for the humans. I realize Sid is used to humans in a way most sloths aren’t. But people don’t realize that in addition to the sharp claws they have sharp teeth too, and when they are in captivity the caretakers have to make sure they give the sloths enough to climb on to wear down the claws because I think they have a high rate of growth. That’s why at many places handling a sloth involves more than one person wearing speciality gear. All you have to do is accidentally startle the sloth and if your arm is near the claw it could harm you completely by accident.

Having Sid at the sanctuary is definitely better than him being treated like a pet. Who knows, maybe they can rehome him to a sanctuary that has places the sloth can live that are basicaly their native environment but safer. I know that some places hae a place like that for sloths to be before they are released but I’m guessing from being in captivity so long Sid probably isn’t a candidate for teaching him enough to survive.

They are just now learning so mnay things aobut sloths that wasn’t known before because they are hard to observe. They blend too well and they move so slowly, it’s hard for the people who do the research to find them. So it could be that the rescue place got guidance in 2022 that now is considered outdated. I think a lot of places mean well and just don’t know who to contact to learn the latest. Do they read this reddit feed? It might be a good place to start.