Pep Carrera

More than 50 sloths died at an Orlando tourist attraction that never opened to the public. Last week, Florida officials closed the criminal investigation and pressed no charges. Sloth World was supposed to be an interactive attraction on International Drive where you could hold a sloth. To stock it, the company imported animals caught in the wild in Guyana and Peru. The first shipment arrived at a facility with no running water and no electricity. The space heaters meant to keep them warm failed, leaving tropical animals in the Florida cold for at least one night in December 2024. Between March and April, the number of living sloths in the company's care went from 26 to 13. The sheriff's report describes emaciated, dehydrated animals. One frothing at the mouth. One that had been lying on the ground for two days, covered in its own feces. The curator who helped move the survivors to the Central Florida Zoo said she saw no food and no water anywhere in the building. A veterinarian told the state the company expanded faster than it could handle disease, and was dosing sick sloths with Pedialyte. 55 died, only 13 made it out alive. The Orange County Sheriff's Office concluded there was no crime because nothing that happened cleared the legal bar for criminal neglect in Florida. A state representative put it about as plainly as it can be put: when a facility can be in full compliance with every applicable standard and animals still die by the dozens, the standards are the problem. Compliance is not the same as care. Florida now requires a special permit to import sloths. Orange County commissioners are weighing a ban on using exotic wildlife for commercial entertainment. 55 wild animals were pulled out of a rainforest, shipped across an ocean, and died in a warehouse for an attraction that never opened its doors. And under the law as written, nobody did anything wrong.