Second Protest "Sloth Selfies" at the Academy of Natural Sciences - Philadelphia
-> 1900 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA
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PLEASE JOIN US for our second protest of the unethical and abusive treatment of animals by the Academy of Natural Sciences. Please also sign our petition directed to the Academy here:
https://www.change.org/.../academy-of-natural-sciences...
The Academy of Natural Sciences is hosting an “Under the Canopy” exhibit from Ontario-based "Little Ray's Exhibitions" where live animals, including snakes, turtles and a sloth, are on display. While none of the plexiglass enclosures provide an environment close to the species’ native habitats, and we are asking that the Academy stop renting traveling exhibits featuring live animals, we are focusing on the sloth referred to as "Maple" for this protest. 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀 Saturday, August 24 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼n (Signs will be provided.)
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧: Saturday, August 24, 2024 - 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway (protest will be outside on Benjamin Franklin Parkway)
𝗪𝗵𝘆: According to Rebecca Cliffe, PhD—a Costa Rica-based zoologist who founded the Sloth Conservation Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to saving sloths in the wild the harm with promoting “sloth selfies” is profound:
"Allowing hands-on contact is not ethical. Sloths are a solitary species, so they’re not social and can’t be domesticated. They are the prey and humans are the predator. Sadly, their natural reaction is to stay still, which confuses people into thinking they are content with being held and touched. And there’s another entirely separate issue: the effects of social media.
The more people visiting these encounters and sharing photographs of touching and holding a sloth, the faster these actions become normalized. People then come to economically troubled countries like Costa Rica or Colombia or Brazil with a preconception that sloths are touchable and holdable, which then presents greater opportunities for exploitation."
In February, “Maple” was transported from her home in Ontario for display in the plexiglass exhibit in Philadelphia until the exhibit closes in September. She will then either be shipped to another location to be displayed as part of the “Little Ray’s Exhibitions” traveling menageries—including a busy mall in upstate New York—or shipped back to Ontario, which reportedly includes an inventory of 20 sloths, to await her next disruptive tour. Sloths are mostly deaf and nearly blind when exposed to bright daylight. They are also unable to thermoregulate so when removed from their natural climate, the special microbes that live in their stomach can die and the sloth can no longer digest the food they eat—starving to death on a full stomach. Sloths are creatures of habit, and do not adapt well to big changes in their environment.
The Academy defends its exploitative encounter by claiming "She is not removed from her enclosure, and guests are never allowed to touch or hold her. The only interaction they allow during the encounters is for guests to feed her using a skewer, which Maple can decline if she chooses. She is never posed for pictures and often chooses to sleep right through many situations." However, the Academy promotes the touching of some some animals in the exhibit on its website:
https://www.anspblog.org/take-a-look-under-the-canopy/
Bottom line, the Academy is promoting an unnatural encounter with a captive wild animals as a photo op. Please join us on Saturday to ask the Academy to stop!