Sloth poaching in northwestern Colombia
nationalgeographic.com
nationalgeographic.com
They've managed to survive for so long by perfectly adapting to that very specific "goldilocks" rainforest canopy environment. Take them out of that environment or stress them out too much and they will get sick and die. They really don't make good pets. That's why most zoos have only sloths of the two-toed variety as they're more resilient vs the three-toed sloths featured in this article.
I wish Colombia would make the sloth trade illegal and also inform tourists not to pay for any services related to interactions with wild sloths under the penalty of law. If you destroy the demand for a service, the supply will naturally fall, but the core issue is more complex as the quote below highlights what the main problem is:
>December through February are typically the busiest months, when he and his friends can sell at least 30 sloths. “I really want to stop,” says Morales, who provides for his mother and nine siblings. “I feel like I don’t have another option.”
I totally get that when people are desperate and out of options of making a decent living they will turn to less humane gigs to feed their family. The key would be to get these people out of poverty first so they don't have to capture and sell wild animals.
Alternative take: the demand of the service "sloth-as-pets" could lead to their domestication/breeding in captivity, like the Cobra Effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive)
That's another reason I'm not so concerned for endangered species humans find yummy/cute/(...): there's a strong financial incentive we never run out of them!
Then my apologies, it's an appeal to emotions + moving the goalpost.
It's ok for people to do things you may disapprove of as long as it's legal.
I think the article spelled out that it definitely is illegal. But that when there's no real punishment or rule of law, it simply doesn't get enforced.
"In January 2015, while Bedoya was awaiting trial, local police caught him selling sloths again. They let him go, according to Tovar, who says he doesn’t know why and had no jurisdiction to intervene."
When people are poor and desperate, they'll do what they have to to survive.
Amazing how important economic development + rule of law are.
My take - markets do not price at all rationally in the wild lands, and human nature is the driver here.
That said, cool article!
Fixed now. Thanks!