Orphaned Baby Sloth Clings Onto Stuffed Animal For Emotional Support

The Sloth Sanctuary gives rescued sloths stuffed animals to comfort them from the trauma of injury or abandonment.

After Ash the orphaned baby sloth was brought to the Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica, he turned to a stuffed animal for emotional support.

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The Sloth Sanctuary gives rescued sloths stuffed animals to comfort them from the trauma of injury or abandonment. 

"[Ash] clings onto the plush toy 'surrogate,'" while he is fed goats milk from a bottle, the Sloth Sanctuary said.

"Nature is changing around us, and we ideally do not want these rescued sloths to be dependent on human care," the Sloth Sanctuary wrote on their website.

Ash was seen tumbling out of an almond tree by a couple setting up their hair braiding business. According to the Sloth Sanctuary, the couple couldn't find the two-toed sloth's mother, so they picked him off the ground and took him to the sanctuary, a 30-minute drive from where he was found.

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Ash's small size indicated that he was still a baby, and therefore prone to hypothermia without the warmth of his mother's body.

But Ash arrived to the center in good health, although a little bit dehydrated, making him an excellent candidate for the sanctuary's release program.

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