Thirty-one sloths that had been acquired by a planned animal attraction in Orlando, Florida, featuring the peculiar creatures died soon after they were imported into the United States, state and county officials said.
Many of them died from a lack of heat at a warehouse that was not authorised to keep wildlife.
The deaths occurred between December 2024 and February 2025, but only recently came to light in a newly released report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which found several violations when it inspected the warehouse in August.
The report was obtained earlier by Inside Climate News, an environmental journalism nonprofit.
The findings have drawn intense criticism to the not-yet-open attraction in Orlando, which is called Sloth World and describes itself on its website as “rainforest-inspired indoor habitat where more than 40 sloths live on their terms” and “the world’s only ‘Slotharium’”.
Sloth World’s president Benjamin Agresta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mr Agresta, told Fox 35 Orlando on April 24 that Sloth World had abandoned its plans to open and would file for bankruptcy.
All of its remaining sloths were under the “full control” of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, he said.
Also on April 24, the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Sanford, Florida, said it had recently accepted a donation of 13 two-toed sloths that were being quarantined for at least 30 days.
The zoo said it was working with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums on the long-term placement of the sloths with various accredited organisations.
“Many of these animals will require lifelong assistance from humans to be given the opportunity to thrive, all of them having been in human care since arriving in the country,” the zoo said.
Sloth World was to be part of a growing and loosely regulated commercial tourism enterprise centered around sloths, the slow-moving, cuddly-looking mammals native to Central and South America.
Of the six species of sloths, one is considered critically endangered and another is vulnerable, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
The sloths that died had been imported from Guyana and Peru, two countries that experts said still allow sloths, which cannot regulate their body temperature and usually feed on tropical leaves, to be captured in the wild to be sold elsewhere. NYTIMES