A sloth in the wild in Suriname. Photo by Stellar Tsang, courtesy the Green Heritage Fund Suriname, used with permission. One conservation organization in Paramaribo, Suriname, is putting its efforts into rescuing wildlife and preserving their habitat. Started in 2005 by Monique Pool, Green Heritage Fund Suriname advocates for animal rights by educating people. While Suriname is a lush country, city areas impacted by deforestation are pushing animals out. The Green Heritage Fund is working to help those animals — sloths, mostly — as well as preserve the ecosystems for dolphins and other marine life. Global Voices spoke with Pool about the important work her organization does. Monique Pool, founder and director of the Green Heritage Fund Suriname. Photo by Stellar Tsang, used with permission. Global Voices (GV): Tell us about Green Heritage Fund Suriname. What's a typical work day like? Monique Pool (MP): I think most people think we are either running behind sloths and anteaters, or maybe watching dolphins all day. I wish…but actually, we have a lot of tasks. We plan for new activities and then in between, we get calls for rescues. Sometimes we have one rescue a week and sometimes we have two rescues in one day. GV: Tell us about some of these activities, and your goals as a non-profit. Close-up of a sloth that was rescued by Green Heritage Fund Suriname. Photo by Stellar Tsang, used with permission. MP: We have four programs. The Xenarthra Program is basically the rescue, rehabilitation and release of wildlife. It’s also about [preserving] the ecosystem that they live in, to ensure that there’s enough left. We’re not just the normal conservation organization. We’re also looking more and more at the wildlife welfare of animals that are losing their habitat, especially in the city. The second program is the Dolphin Program. While that's the one species the program is focusing on, we also started looking at the broader picture — all the animals that share the ecosystem with this dolphin and the health of that ecosystem. Together with WWF Guianas, the Nature Conservation Division of the Suriname Forest Service, and the Protected Areas Commission of Guyana, we’re actually implementing a regional Marine Spatial Planning project. In the end, the aim for that program is to have a marine protected area. Our third program is Education and Research. For us, education is the main focus of what we do because we feel if you don’t raise awareness or don’t educate people, you will never be able to protect areas. Education is a really important part of our efforts. It’s cutting through all of our programs and education, of course, includes advocacy. The fourth program is Green Community Development. If the community invites us, we help them look for alternative ways of earning money. GV: Why did you decide to focus your energies on the well-being of sloths? MP: It’s more or less of a coincidence that we started doing that. I had lost my dog and while I was looking for him through the Animal Protection Society, I volunteered to take care of a baby sloth. Then I started becoming interested in why specifically sloths were being reported [to the Animal Protection Society] so much. We started focusing more on that whole group because they are very special animals — not just the sloths, but also anteaters. I became more and more curious, and started looking online for resources. GV: How have development and deforestation impacted the lives of sloths in Suriname? MP: All wildlife that shares the habitat with the sloths are affected when there is deforestation — but sloths are so slow, they cannot get away. The moment the machines start coming in, the monkeys will flee, the birds will go away, the snakes will leave because of the ground moving in a certain way. The animals will be gone, with the exception of the animals that are too slow to do that. These include the sloths, the silky anteaters (small anteaters that live very high in the trees), and the tree porcupines. When we do the rescues, those are the animals that we mostly catch. We normally release all healthy animals within a week. Deforestation is happening in the interior where there is illegal gold mining, but those areas are already heavily hunted, so there is not that much wildlife. Most of our animals come from the coastal zone, with maybe 96% coming specifically from the city. A sloth makes its way along a heavily polluted piece of land in Suriname's capital city, where many animals are in danger of losing their habitat. Photo by Stellar Tsang, courtesy Green Heritage Fund Suriname; used with permission. GV: How do you care for the sloths once they come to the sanctuary? MP: First, we assess their health status.