Deforestation and burning have always been the main threat to sloths. In recent years, however, animal trafficking to supply the tourism industry has added an extra layer of risk. The so-called \u201cwildlife tourism\u201d provides travelers with direct contact with wild animals, whether in popular markets or on itineraries offered by travel agencies.<\/p>\n
In an article published in 2018, D\u2019Cruze and other researchers identified 249 tourist attractions of this type in Latin America being advertised on the Tripadvisor travel platform. In some of these locations, tourists can also buy an animal to take home, as is the case at the Bel\u00e9n Market, in Iquitos, Peru.<\/p>\n
According to D\u2019Cruze, it\u2019s estimated that tens of thousands of sloths are victims of this illegal trade. \u201cThis type of trade has been documented in Colombia, Brazil and Peru,\u201d he states. \u201cAnd it doesn\u2019t stop there: Sloths are being exported, albeit in smaller numbers, to the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n
The red flag led Brazil, Costa Rica and Panama to suggest the inclusion of two species of the animal in CITES Appendix II (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), an international agreement that establishes controls for the trade of animals and plants. The proposal will be discussed at the group\u2019s next summit, between Nov. 24 and Dec. 5, in Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n
The chosen species were Choloepus didactylus, known as Linn\u00e9\u2019s two-toad sloth, native to the Amazon, and C. hoffmanni, called Hoffmann\u2019s two-toed sloth. Despite being classified as animals of \u201cleast concern\u201d globally by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, governments argue that the situation is already much more critical in countries like Costa Rica, Brazil and Honduras.<\/p>\n
\u201cC. hoffmanni meets the criteria for inclusion in CITES Appendix II, and its international regulation is necessary to prevent illegal trafficking from increasing and its populations from declining,\u201d states the document submitted to the convention. According to the proposal, C. didactylus is a species practically identical to C. hoffmanni and is traded in the various countries it inhabits and must therefore be included as a similar species.<\/p>\n \u201cWe received the news of the proposal to include Choloepus on the CITES list, led by Brazil, with great enthusiasm,\u201d biologist N\u00e1dia de Moraes-Barros, who has studied sloths since the late 1990s and is the scientific coordinator for Freeland Brasil, an NGO that fights wildlife trafficking, tells Mongabay. \u201cIn recent years, we have seen an increase in interest in these two species in both legalized and illegal trade, with large numbers being seized, especially in the Amazon region,\u201d says the researcher, who is also vice leader of the Anteater, Sloth and Armadillo Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), responsible for producing the Red List.<\/p>\n The two sloth species nominated for CITES are the two-toed type, known to be more aggressive and faster than their three-toed relatives, and live in Amazonian countries and parts of Central America. In total, there are seven sloth species distributed between South and Central America, with six of them present in Brazil.<\/p>\n The use of animals as tourist attractions and their sale as mascots are particularly widespread in Colombia. According to a National Geographic report, it\u2019s common to find people selling baby sloths for up to 1,110 reais ($200) along Route 25, the highway connecting Medell\u00edn to the department of C\u00f3rdoba.<\/p>\n For D\u2019Cruze, the combination of a large influx of tourists, lack of enforcement, the advance of roads into forest areas and the actions of criminal groups has made the country a hotspot for sloth trafficking. \u201cIt\u2019s a modern market response to tourist expectations and social media trends, further facilitated by legal loopholes and limited oversight,\u201d he says. \u201cColombia\u2019s incredible biodiversity, of which sloths are an important part, is one of its greatest assets, but it\u2019s also being commodified.\u201d<\/p>\n Plese, from the Aiunau Foundation, reports that her team has received up to 120 rescued sloths per year. She states that trafficking decreased with the rise in public awareness campaigns and the arrest in 2015 of animal trafficker Isaac Miguel Bedoya Guevara. According to Colombian authorities, he captured about 10,000 sloths over three decades, and the animals were smuggled to Panama, Costa Rica, the United States and Italy.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say that sloth trafficking has decreased significantly,\u201d Plese says. \u201cHowever, at the local level, such as on the Caribbean coast, they still offer the animals in market squares and bus stations.\u201d To make matters worse, deforestation has become an increasing threat to the survival of these animals in the Colombian Amazon. \u201cThat factor alone would be more than enough to consider the status change [on the IUCN Red List] and to include it in CITES.\u201d<\/p>\n Sloths are also common tourist attractions in popular markets in Peru. In 2019, D\u2019Cruze and his colleagues interviewed traders in Iquitos, who confirmed that the animals are among the top 10 most profitable to be sold as pets. \u201cA significant positive correlation was found between the most profitable species and those that are becoming increasingly rare,\u201d the scientists stated.<\/p>\n Experts have also recorded the illegal trafficking of sloths in Panama, Ecuador, Honduras, Bolivia, Mexico and Costa Rica. Costa Rica, a country that has the animal as its national symbol and launched the Stop Animal Selfies campaign. The initiative aims to raise tourist awareness about the negative impact of selfies and photos that show direct contact with wild animals. According to the campaign, taking selfies with the animals is cruel, negatively impacts species conservation and can be dangerous for tourists, who risk bites, attacks, scratches and disease contagion.<\/p>\n In Brazil, where the C.hoffmanni population has dropped by 28% in the last three generations (42 years), the main threat is deforestation, which directly impacts its habitat. \u201cAll sloths are forest dependent,\u201d Barros says. \u201cThey are herbivores, mostly three-toed sloths. Two-toed sloths may also occasionally feed on fruits, small invertebrates and sometimes eggs.\u201d<\/p>\n Between 2020 and 2025, the Brazilian environmental agency\u2019s Wild Animal Screening Centers (CETAS), responsible for the rehabilitation of wild animals, received 111 Linn\u00e9\u2019s two-toed sloths. The animals were either surrendered voluntarily or recovered during operations by environmental agents.<\/p>\n The capture of sloths for contact with tourists is also a reality in the Brazilian Amazon, as shown by a study published by D\u2019Cruze in 2017, after his team monitored a series of tours promoted by tourism agencies near Manaus, in Amazonas state. Interaction with river dolphins was the No.1 attraction, followed by the opportunity to handle sloths. \u201cI saw sloths tied to trees and left huddled on the ground, waiting to be picked up as props when tourists arrived,\u201d the biologist reports.<\/p>\n Another concern is the capture of species in the Brazilian Amazon to be sold in neighboring countries. \u201cIn Brazil, there is illegal trafficking of wild species on the border with Peru and Colombia, including sloths,\u201d the proposal made to CITES states.<\/p>\n In addition to illegal trade, sloths can be legally sold in some countries, such as Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, whether for commercial or educational purposes or for exhibition in zoos. This is not the case in Brazil, where the sale of wild species is prohibited. According to Barros, however, the permission for trade in other countries ends up encouraging captures even in territories where the practice is banned. \u201cLet\u2019s say someone illegally removes a sloth from the wild here in Brazil and manages to leave the country. As soon as it leaves, and the species is not listed in any CITES appendix, the sale can become legal in the country it enters.\u201d<\/p>\n If accepted into CITES Appendix II, all signatory countries to the convention will be subject to stricter rules for the trade of the two sloth species. One requirement, for example, is that the country\u2019s environmental agency issues a study proving that the transaction will not affect the species\u2019 conservation.<\/p>\n \u201cInclusion in CITES Appendix II is a crucial first step. It will highlight the issue and force countries to better regulate international trade,\u201d D\u2019Cruze states. \u201cBut this means little if there are no more forests. We need not only to stop sloths from being unsustainably removed from the wild but also to stop nature from being destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n D\u2019Cruze, N., Niehaus, C., Balaskas, M., Vieto, R., Carder, G., Richardson, V. A., \u2026 Macdonald, D. W. (2018). Wildlife tourism in Latin America: Taxonomy and conservation status. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26(9), 1562-1576. doi:10.1080\/09669582.2018.1484752<\/p>\n D\u2019Cruze, N., Machado, F. C., Matthews, N., Balaskas, M., Carder, G., Richardson, V., & Vieto, R. (2017). A review of wildlife ecotourism in Manaus, Brazil. Nature Conservation, 22, 1-16. doi:10.3897\/natureconservation.22.17369<\/p>\n Elwin, A., E., P., Vieto, R., Asfaw, A. E., & Harrington, L. A. (2024). Wildlife trade at Bel\u00e9n and Modelo market, Peru: Defining a baseline for conservation monitoring. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 5, 1464332. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fcosc.2024.1464332<\/p>\nThe cruelty behind the selfies<\/h2>\n
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