{"id":261727,"date":"2026-05-07T08:27:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261727\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T08:27:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:27:19","slug":"34-sloths-dead-in-central-florida-amid-sloth-world-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261727\/","title":{"rendered":"34 sloths dead in Central Florida amid Sloth World investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Another sloth has died in Central Florida, bringing the total number of confirmed sloth deaths to 34, amid ongoing confusion regarding the investigation into Sloth World. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">State Attorney Monique Worrell says her office is not leading the investigation, a statement that contradicts what Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier previously indicated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Thirty-one of the sloth deaths occurred in a warehouse for Sloth World and three more died after being donated to the Central Florida Zoo. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">According to FWC reports, the sloths died from a viral infection, cold and stress experienced during transportation and housing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Of the 13 sloths donated to the Central Florida Zoo, three have died.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">State lawmakers have called for answers and criminal charges following the deaths. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">FWC reports indicate that dozens of sloths arrived from South America over the last couple of years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">State Rep. Anna Eskamani is holding a press conference on Wednesday to advocate for accountability regarding the sloth deaths. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Sloth experts are expected to be present at the press conference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\">Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\">click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wftvapps.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778142439_180_APP DOWNLOAD LOCAL_1541693885678.jpg_13622062_ver1.0.jpg\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Another sloth has died in Central Florida, bringing the total number of confirmed sloth deaths&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6277,51363,2652,111472,1060,113021,1061,13139,28,30,29,4747,107934,6278,634,65039,6276,115,113022,28374,65038,44632,107937,113020,89956,113019,1045],"class_list":["post-261727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-attorney_general","tag-carl","tag-central_florida","tag-central_florida_zoo","tag-channel_9","tag-eskani","tag-eyewitness","tag-eyewitness_news","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-fwc","tag-international_drive","tag-james_uthmeyer","tag-local","tag-martello_channel_9","tag-monique_worrell","tag-news","tag-orlando_san","tag-sam","tag-sam_martello","tag-sloth","tag-sloth_world","tag-south_america","tag-state_attorney","tag-state_attorney_general","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261727","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=261727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}