{"id":253555,"date":"2026-05-01T05:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T05:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/253555\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T05:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T05:54:20","slug":"ron-desantis-calls-sloth-world-deaths-weird-as-orlando-democrats-demand-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/253555\/","title":{"rendered":"Ron DeSantis calls Sloth World deaths ‘weird’ as Orlando Democrats demand investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

As some lawmakers call for a criminal investigation into Sloth World after more than 50 sloths died, Gov. Ron DeSantis appears slow to join in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis issue with this Sloth World in Orlando, honestly, it was really, really weird to me,\u201d DeSantis said when asked about his reaction during a news conference<\/a> to announce a road construction project update in Volusia County<\/a>. \u201cI know FWC<\/a> (the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) got involved and I think that they\u2019re going to rectify whatever it was that was the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sloth World was planning to open on Orlando\u2019s International Drive until Inside Climate News broke the story<\/a> about the sloths\u2019 deaths as they were shipped to the United States from the jungle then stored in a warehouse with poor conditions.<\/p>\n

Sloth World donated 13 surviving sloths to the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens<\/a> in Sanford. The zoo, which is accepting donations<\/a> from the public, is trying to nurse the animals back to health<\/a>. One sloth that was in critical condition was euthanized, the zoo disclosed Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, state Rep. Anna Eskamani is calling for Attorney General James Uthmeier to criminally investigate Sloth World<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need criminal charges for the so-called Sloth World. This is shameful,\u201d said Eskamani, who is running to be the city\u2019s Mayor in 2027, on X.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost<\/a> is also calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate the situation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DeSantis did not address the two Orlando Democrats\u2019 demands for state or federal action during his press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy kids, we\u2019ve done a number of attractions over the years. That is not one we\u2019ve yet gone to,\u201d DeSantis said of Sloth World during his press conference. \u201cSo we\u2019ll see what happens going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sloth World, which had not officially opened, is not planning to ever open its doors, according to media reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As some lawmakers call for a criminal investigation into Sloth World after more than 50 sloths died, Gov.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2217,15748,4260,2223,139,141,140,412,44635],"class_list":["post-253555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-anna-eskamani","tag-florida-fish-and-wildlife-conservation-commission","tag-james-uthmeier","tag-maxwell-frost","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-ron-desantis","tag-sloth-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}