The exhilarating tasks, the eternal glory, the best sporting event of 2020. We’re talking about the Sloth Ironman Games, of course, and they have come and gone leaving nothing but praise for the best sloth athlete of this year’s competitions.
In case you don’t know, the Sloth Ironman Games are one of the biggest fundraisers for the Toucan Rescue Ranch, and all the money donated helps with each sloth’s care. This year was the biggest year ever. Being the fifth year for the games, we decided to include a fifth sloth, Eclipse, which was special since he was the first-ever three-fingered sloth to enter the Games and drove the fans crazy!
The events brought joy to everyone’s lives for a full week. The 1 Meter-Dash and the Poop-Off were won by Gaspar, everyone’s favorite little brother. Next up, on the Hibiscus Eat-Off was taken by Oatmeal — the amazing electrocution survivor. Last but not least, the Strong Sloth Challenge was Suso’s, God of Thunder. Eclipse sat comfortably in third place most of the way through, and sadly Lala — the sweet, calm lady — was deemed the “DQ queen” and was disqualified on three out of the four events.
However, taking the golden title was the famous two-fingered sloth, Oatmeal! She has been stealing the hearts of people all over the world since we announced her rescue and rehabilitation journey starting in November 2019. People were captivated by her strength and determination to win, both during and outside of the Games. This overwhelming love is what initially pushed her to the top, becoming the 2020 Sloth Ironman Games champion!
Originally, the goal was to raise $3,000 for the Saving Sloths Together program and support our relief fund in general. Giving the global circumstances and the crisis that’s come with it, we thought $3,000 was a pretty difficult goal to achieve. It was already $1,000 more than the 2019 goal.
I can’t put my finger on what happened next. Maybe we all needed to laugh a little bit more than usual. Maybe the surprise sloth was really inspiring. Maybe this year showed us that at the end of the day it is the smallest act of kindness that makes the most difference. But whatever the reason, we not only reached the $3,000 goal but fundraised an incredible total of $8,700 thanks to 150 donors!
These funds will keep us running during the pandemic since we haven’t been able to receive visitors like usual. It gives our medical program the tools needed to keep saving animals and giving them a second chance. It provides animals with their general care and will buy lots of papayas!
We are extremely grateful for this year’s kind donations and for all of your support toward our work. If you haven’t already, we invite you to watch our Thank You video, which includes the highlights of each event! We hope you had a great Sloth Month and Happy Halloween!
To help Toucan Rescue Ranch please consider donating.
This article was produced by The Toucan Rescue Ranch. The Toucan Rescue Ranch specializes in helping wild animals recover so that they can be reintroduced into the wild. For more information or to donate, visit the Toucan Rescue Ranch website.
