Watch: The look of pure joy on this sloth’s face as she tucks into her food is very relatable
Josie was a victim of the exotic pet trade, but now has plenty of delicious apples to munch on.
You might think you enjoy your food, but you don’t – not the way Josie the sloth enjoys her food.
“She closes her eyes and leans back and crunches on her apples and it’s just hysterical to watch,” said Bree Winchell, a keeper at Oregon Zoo where Josie lives. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other animal enjoy an apple quite the way she does.”
Josie didn’t always have such an enjoyable life.
A Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth, she was snatched from the wild to be sold and was taken in by a woman in Portland, who had been told she was an orphan and needed a home.
When her owner realised she couldn’t care for Josie, she took her to Oregon Zoo, where she is now healthy and helping to teach visitors about the potential evils of the exotic pet trade.
“People are completely enthralled by watching her,” said Winchell. “People actually several times have cried, they’ve been so moved.
“We always want our animals to have choice to participate. If Josie doesn’t wake up for an encounter then we don’t do the encounter.
“She chooses when she’s going to participate and that choice is really important because we want them to be able to tell us when they’re comfortable and when they’re ready to work with us.”
