MARGATE, Fla. (CBS12) — As Florida authorities continue investigating the deaths of dozens of sloths tied to Sloth World in Orlando, a new sloth encounter is preparing to open in South Florida — raising fresh questions about oversight of the growing exotic animal industry.
Exotic animal exhibitor Larry Wallach has filed paperwork to open Wildlife Adventures in Margate, a business where customers can interact with sloths, kangaroos, reptiles, and birds, according to a report by Inside Climate News.
The proposal comes weeks after Sloth World filed for bankruptcy following the deaths of 31 sloths — which has now climbed to well over 50 sloths — before the attraction ever opened. Many of the animals died after being housed in an off-site warehouse that lacked permanent electricity and running water, according to previous reports.
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Wallach’s own track record has drawn similar controversy.
He previously operated a sloth encounter business in Long Island, New York, where federal inspection reports documented issues with animal handling, facility conditions, and public safety, according to CBS12 news partners at the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Recently, Wallach exhibited exotic animals after his federal license expired at an elementary school graduation in Margate, where a Facebook video posted by Commissioner Tommy Ruzzano on May 27 shows him parading a sloth through a crowd alongside an armed Margate police officer who is holding a small, blanket-wrapped kangaroo.
Despite these incidents, Wallach maintains that his animals receive proper care. Carrying a live sloth, he addressed the Margate City Commission last month to pitch his new venture:
I’ve been raising animals since I was like 15 — tigers, bears, lions, everything. But my real love is for sloths, and I’m looking to open up a store in Margate that would almost be very, very educational.
That same commission meeting was met with protests from nearly a dozen animal advocacy protesters with signs that read “No to Larry Wallach’s Wildlife Adventures,” and “56 Dead Sloths for Orlando’s Sloth World,” according to the Miami Herald.
The timing of Wallach’s proposal has intensified the debate over Florida’s wildlife attractions. Supporters argue these encounters educate the public and promote conservation. However, critics—and the USDA in multiple instances—counter that repeated public handling places immense stress on exotic animals. Scientists told the Sun Sentinel that sloths, in particular, are “extremely ill-suited to captivity.”
As Wildlife Adventures moves closer to opening, it forces a state already reeling from the Sloth World disaster to confront the question: can hands-on exotic animal encounters ever be safely balanced with animal welfare and accountability?