Sloths are amazing animals and the three-toed variety seen in this article is insanely cute but unfortunately for them, their cuteness makes them a desirable object for the tourist selfie industry and people who want them as pets and therefore a target for unscrupulous poachers. And since they're too slow and low on energy to defend themselves it means they're an easy target and most likely won't survive their captors very long.
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.
poaching is a macho crime and there is little "desperate" that I can see in that. From random other information, it seems that high powered automatic rifles are quite common in some populations. How much money does ammunition and service of many hundreds of high powered automatic rifles cost?
My take - markets do not price at all rationally in the wild lands, and human nature is the driver here.
> 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:
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!
Making something legal does not magically make it morally acceptable. Conversely, there are countless example of things that are currently legal that are morally deplorable.
"I wish Colombia would make the sloth trade illegal"
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.
Gah, when you've spent any time in Colombia, you're condemned to spend the rest of your life correcting the very easy u (vowel) spelling mistake. Easy one to make since the university is spelled that way + Columbus. But gah, it gets under your skin.
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Fixed now. Thanks!
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.
My take - markets do not price at all rationally in the wild lands, and human nature is the driver here.
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.
That said, cool article!
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30090849