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Florida has temporarily banned sloth imports following the deaths of dozens of wild-born sloths at a now-shuttered Orlando business. The two-month ban, ordered by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, carries national weight as the vast majority of U.S. sloth imports come through the port of Miami.
Orlando-based Sloth World imported over 60 sloths from Peru and Guyana and planned to display them at a tourist attraction where customers could view them up close for $49. Government records showed 31 died in a warehouse shortly after arrival between late 2024 and early 2025. Deaths continued to mount until the attraction shut down, and the only 13 sole survivors were transferred to the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens. Three have since died—and one, Mr. Ginger, is in critical condition.
“One thing that’s become very apparent throughout this whole case is that there is a massive lack of sloth expertise in Florida and in the United States, and people, I think, underestimated just how much specialized care and knowledge it takes to really understand them and know when they’re suffering,” said Rebecca Cliffe, founder of the Sloth Conservation Foundation.
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✍️ @katie.surma & Kiley Price
📸 Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens
