We would like to give a warm welcome to Tristan Simpson! He is a new contributor to the Kidz Korner column of Toucan Rescue Ranch’s blog! Tristen, like Sylvie, is one big sloth fan. One look at his room and you can tell, he’s here to protect, educate, and make you fall in love with sloths!

Now, let’s get to know more about Tristan:

Hi, my name is Tristan Simpson. I am 9 years old. I live in Toronto, Canada and I absolutely love sloths. About 5 years ago, I watched a documentary with my family about a baby sloth called “Velcro” who was rescued by a journalist called Ana Salceda. The baby sloth spent a year with her until she was able to release him into the wild. Ever since then, a lot of my life has revolved around sloths. My favorite sloth stuffie is called “Sloppy”. He is really big and cuddly and I take him around the house with me! 

I really want to be a vet when I grow up and part of a special team that helps to rescue animals like they do at the Toucan Rescue Ranch. They do such brilliant work. I would love to work with sloths all day. 

Sloth Conservation

I write poems about sloths at school and they are the first thing I want to write about when we do creative writing. This month we had to choose an endangered species to do a project on and the Pygmy three-toed sloth was an obvious choice for me. I presented it to my class and taught them all about the Pygmy Sloth, its tiny island habitat on Escudo de Veraguas, its physical adaptations, habitat loss, human interaction, and action and advocacy to try and save them. I hope my project brought some awareness to the plight of the Pygmy Sloths.

Fundraising

This summer my sister (Noelle) and I are planning to have a lemonade stand and we will sell a lot more than just lemonade. Noelle is 10 years old and is very good at baking. She’s going to make banana chocolate chip muffins, maple fudge, and condensed milk flapjacks to sell. She is also very good at crochet and is going to crochet sloth bookmarks and a few other bits for our stand. My parents have agreed to match whatever we make at the sale for us to donate to The Toucan Rescue Ranch. Bring on summer! 

Getting to know the sloths at Toucan Rescue Ranch!

For my birthday in January, my family organized a virtual sloth meet and greet for us with Leslie at the Toucan Rescue Ranch. We got to see lots of the baby sloths they have rescued, watched them being fed, heard loads of information about them, and could ask questions too. It was awesome to see them doing such an important job and saving these precious animals.

We can’t wait to go and visit when Covid restrictions are lifted.

Are you a parent, teacher, or educator who wants to get involved with Toucan Rescue Ranch’s Kidz Korner? Please send blog submissions to [email protected]! What needs to be included in order to be featured:

1. At least 3 photos in JPEG format
2. At least 200 words
3. A small biography about the Conservation Kid
4. Parental or teacher approval

Follow the hashtag on social media #TRRKidzKorner