The person licensed to possess the animals, identified in the report as P. Bandre, told FWC officers that 21 of the tropical animals died in a \u201ccold stun\u201d on Dec. 22, 2024, just four days after they arrived from Guyana. Bandre said the building had no water or electricity and was not prepared to adequately care for the sloths, \u201cbut it was too late to cancel the shipment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMultiple space heaters were purchased but had to be powered with an extension cord from a different building,\u201d the FWC report said. \u201cThe space heaters tripped the fuse and shut down and it appears that at least for one night, the sloths were in the cold building without heat. There was no one present overnight to correct this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Data from a weather station at Orlando International Airport<\/a> indicated that temperatures plunged to 46 degrees that night. Sloths, which are acclimated to the hot, humid tropics, cannot survive such conditions.<\/p>\n On Feb. 19, 2025, ten sloths from Peru arrived at the facility. The report said two were dead on arrival, and the eight others, described as being \u201cemaciated and in very poor health,\u201d later died.<\/p>\n The FWC report detailed the findings of an unannounced, routine inspection performed on Aug. 7, 2025. Six sloths, who arrived about a month prior to the inspection, were living at the facility at the time of the report.<\/p>\n The caption on a photo provided in the report said officers found \u201ccages too small for the sloth contained individually in each one.\u201d Bandre told FWC he \u201cwill be placing the two smaller cages within larger cages and leaving the small cage door open so that the sloths can move into the larger cage or remain in the smaller cage at their choosing.\u201d<\/p>\n News of the sloth deaths, which surfaced in a report from Inside Climate News<\/a> last week, prompted outcry from animal welfare advocates online. Rep. Maxwell Frost, who represents Orlando, said he is \u201cappalled\u201d by the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cMy office is looking into this tragedy, and we will coordinate with local officials to determine how to best move forward,\u201d Frost said in a post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n A Sloth World news release sent to 8 On Your Side on Dec. 9, 2025, advertised a February 2026 opening date, which did not come to fruition. The release, which featured \u201crenderings\u201d of the attraction that appear to be AI-generated, said the building \u201cwill be home to more than 40\u00a0sloths across multiple species, including babies born on site.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/02c9c03c7d2a4c96fcf3b5fccc94f8e0.jpeg\"\/)
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1634f66a246e3aee62f7a6e54a0e6619.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n