INTERNATIONAL: A cute sloth was saved from electrocution and certain death after climbing up an electrical pole in Colombia's Antioquia province. After receiving calls from worried residents in the rural town of Taraza, workers from Colombian public services holding company Empresas Publicas de Medellin (EPM) went to the rescue.

Sloths are noted for their slowness of movement, they spend most of their lives hanging upside down in the trees of the tropical rainforests of South America and Central America. They are considered to be most closely related to anteaters.

They have an extremely low metabolic rate, which means they move at a languid, sluggish pace through the trees. On average, sloths travel 41 yards per day, and this cute sloth has managed to climbed on a post and resting on electrical wires in Colombia.

Sloths are not dangerous to humans if left alone in their natural habitat. If threatened they can lash out with their long claws which could cause damage.

So, with safety measures in place, thirty-eight-year-old EPM employee Victor Hugo Lopez, who had been working nearby, has climbed up on the post and reached out to the sloth, who at first was fearful and kept moving further away from him.

The sloth finally came to its senses when Lopez spoke to it in a soothing voice and has grabbed on to a broom held out by Lopez.

In a dramatic 20-minute operation, the fortunate sloth was carefully brought down from the electrical cables and released back into the wild later that day after suffering from no injuries.