EMERGENCY PETITION TO LIST THE PYGMY THREE-TOED SLOTH

Crates with pygmy sloths destined for Dallas World Aquarium. (Photo courtesy of Jahir AmirTorres via The Bocas Breeze)According to Sigler, the conservation biologist on staff at the Dallas Aquarium, the rareanimals were being relocated in order to establish a captive breeding population in Texas.Sigler presented to the airport officials a research permit, animal export permit and aveterinary certification – all the required paperwork for the export. The NationalEnvironmental Authority (ANAM) in Panama City has since confirmed their legitimacy.The Dallas Aquarium local partner in Panama was Jacobo Lacs, director of Zoologico delIstmo in Colon – also a private animal center, closed to the public, where tropical birds andother animals are bred for export. According to the research permit, Lacs was supposed totake two of the eight pygmy sloths to his facility.However, as the regional ANAM office had no knowledge of the foreign conservation project,the local authorities, aided by a crowd of 75-100 impromptu protestors, vigorously insistedthat the sloths be returned to their native habitat on Isla Escudo de Veraguas.By Monday evening, Dallas Aquarium officials had relinquished possession of the eightsloths. The animals were to be taken back to the island on Tuesday morning and releasedinto the mangrove forest [4].