Plenty of times I’ve had the opportunity to encounter an animal or animals in danger or in need of help. Today is the first time I share one of my experiences on social media, not trying to pretend to be a hero, but trying to motivate others to do the same.
You don't need to have plenty of money to donate to an ONG to become an Animal hero, and you don't need to be part of an organization either. Even though I appreciate and congrat those that dedicate their lives and money to saving animals around the world, I want to dedicate this post to all of you who have had a small opportunity to help an animal, or motivate to never hesitate when nature calls your help!
In Panama, the streets or highways in the countryside can be very dangerous because of the lack of safety, sidewalks or police presence in some areas. A lot of time you will encounter animals trying to cross the street like the sloth, which is one of the most interesting animals of Panama.
I would like to do a parenthesis here about this animal.
Well, in this beautiful country you will find 3 types of sloth: the two-toed, three-toed and the Pygmy Sloth. The first two are spread over the country, although the Pygmy Sloth, is the smallest of the sloths and considered an endemic species.
If you want to learn more about sloths in Panama, here is a cool post of a steemer 
One day, on a road trip from Chiriquí Province to Bocas del Toro, I was with my friends Julio and Manuel. While I was driving I could see how other cars were avoiding something on the street. When we were getting closer, there she was! A female sloth in the middle of the street trying to cross to the other side.
We knew we had to stop to help her because sloths move very slowly. That is why we call this animal in Spanish “Oso Perezoso” (Lazy Bear). Even though we knew the speed limit was 100 kms / hour, we decided to take the risk and pull over, since we could see cars coming from both directions.
Most of the time people don't care, but there are good people out there too. Like the Panamanian family that also stopped on the road to help us.
Here is the video of how everything happened:
Later we learned that when they are on the ground, sloths can only move about five to six feet a minute. It made us happy, that we saved her life. Without us a car would definitely have hit her.
Some locals are used to grab sloths from the back, but apparently, in the wild, sloths can be very dangerous, specially the 2 toed sloth. They can slash you with a single swipe with their claws and cause severe damage. So try always to avoid touching a wild animal.
I hope you liked this post. Please share your experience if you ever have the opportunity to save an animal, it does not matter how. If this post motivates you at least to always have an eye open in your daily life, then the objective of this post has been reached.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. (Ghandi)
