The footage shows a sloth clinging to a treetop in the Peruvian jungle as two men hack at the trunk. As the tree plummets 100 feet down to Earth, the sloth comes with it. The men, illegal loggers, grab the animal, still alive, from beneath the rubble of the tree and stuff it head-first into a black bag. They tie the bag shut, carry it back out through the jungle, and throw it onto a boat. They open it for a quick look—the sloth is wet with condensation from its breath inside the cramped, unventilated bag. The loggers re-tie the bag, plunging the sloth back into darkness.

After a trip down the Amazon River to the port town of Iquitos, the