For Sam Trull, saving sloths has always been about one thing: getting them back where they belong, in the wild.
In this episode of The Greaterverse, Anne-Marie Kruk is joined by Sam Trull, co-founder and Executive Director of The Sloth Institute, a Costa Rica-based organisation dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, release and conservation of sloths.
Sam’s journey to sloths began with a lifelong love of animals and a career working with primates. But after moving to Costa Rica and meeting her first baby sloth, everything changed. What followed was a life dedicated not simply to rescuing sloths, but to understanding what these extraordinary animals need to survive and thrive in the wild.
Today, Sam’s work spans rehabilitation, research, habitat conservation and advocacy. She talks about the painstaking process of preparing orphaned and injured sloths for release, why protecting and reconnecting forests is so critical to their survival, and the campaign to stop wild sloths being taken from their natural habitats for the pet and wildlife encounter trade.
In this conversation, you’ll hear:
- How one baby sloth changed the direction of Sam’s life
- What sloths are really like beyond the stereotypes
- What it really takes to rehabilitate a sloth and prepare it for life back in the wild
- How Sam and fellow conservationists helped expose the devastating reality behind the wild sloth trade
- Why Sam believes we need to learn to love animals a little less selfishly
New Episodes Every Tuesday
Episode Resources: The Greaterverse
Instagram → @thegreaterverse
TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@thegreaterverse
YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@thegreaterverse
Amazon Music → https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/d352edc3-c3c1-4680-af9d-787a5c9b7b16/the-greaterverse
Episode Resources: The Sloth Institute
Instagram → @theslothinstitute
Website → https://www.theslothinstitute.org/