Roads can be really frightening – especially for animals.
Since an animal doesn’t understand what a vehicle is (or what it’s capable of doing) when they come upon a busy highway they just see big objects moving at lightning speed.
If they get stuck on a highway, they could easily become too scared to move.
That’s where police officers often come in.
When we think of a police officer, we think of a man or woman whose duty is to protect the public.
There are many of them, however, that go above and beyond the call of duty to help all individuals.
A local police station in Ecuador received a call one day.
Despite being urgent, the call wasn’t about saving a person. No, it was about saving an animal.
And it wasn’t a cat or dog either — it was actually a very adorable sloth.
That’s right, the police station received a call that a tiny sloth had somehow become stuck on the highway.
Fearing that this terrified sloth would tragically become roadkill, passing motorists phoned into the local police station so the sloth could receive help.
Luckily, the kind officers didn’t hesitate to come to the rescue.
When officers found this sloth, he looked terrified.
The poor creature was so scared of the road that he was holding the guard rail tightly as if the last thing he wanted to do was let go.
But after seeing the officers, his mood immediately changed.
Luckily, officers were able to eventually rescue the sloth!
They brought the sloth to a veterinarian, who declared that the sloth was in good health and could go straight back to the wild.
We’re sure the sloth was relieved to be home again!
The officers posted about the saga on their Facebook page, and the post quickly went viral.
The post was liked over 56,000 times and shared over 21,000 times. Everyone loved the photos of the sloth and the way the officers took the time to make sure he was okay.
The department explained:
“Dear all, we thank everyone for your concern. We inform you that the sloth bear rescued by our uniforms was checked by a vet, who determined that it was in optimal condition to be returned to its habitat.
We thank all those people who were interested in the health of the animal. We will continue to support these types of causes along with citizenry collaboration. Greetings to all.”
Naturally, many Facebook users left wonderful comments praising the officers’ actions to help the animal get home safely.
One commenter wrote:
“How cool is it to watch a traffic officer help an animal on the road. I applaud their attitude of solidarity towards a species. Very good gentlemen, your example is motivating and speaks that there are people who love life in all their demonstrations.”
Someone else said:
“Good that there are still people with good hearts as our furry brothers can not speak or complain we are the ones called to protect them and respect their life a big applause for these gentlemen.”
Sure, the sloth might not have been a human – but it didn’t stop the officers from swooping in to save the day. Bravo, guys!
You can watch a video about the story below!
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Source: Facebook – Comisión de Tránsito del Ecuador, Newsy Weird Stuff
