{"id":294740,"date":"2026-06-03T18:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/294740\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T18:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:36:10","slug":"rescued-sloth-phantom-cleared-from-icu-at-central-florida-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/294740\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescued Sloth Phantom Cleared From ICU at Central Florida Zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

CENTRAL FLORIDA \u2014 The Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens announced a positive health update for Phantom, one of the sloths rescued from the now-closed Sloth World attraction.<\/p>\n

The zoo explains that Phantom was named for the markings on its belly and its habit of staying hidden in the shadows of its hammock, reminiscent of \u201cThe Phantom of the Opera.\u201d Phantom shares its habitat with another rescued sloth named Chewie and spends most of the day resting in a hammock, only emerging eagerly when food is provided.<\/p>\n

Zoo staff said Phantom\u2019s favorite foods include yellow squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, cucumbers and a specialized sloth diet.<\/p>\n

More importantly, zoo officials announced that Phantom has now been moved out of intensive care, joining Dolce and Chewie<\/a>, after nearly a week without needing regular medical intervention. The staff mentioned they will keep a close watch on all three animals as they recover.<\/p>\n

The update marks another encouraging milestone for the surviving sloths transferred to the Central Florida Zoo in April after the collapse of Orlando\u2019s proposed Sloth World attraction. <\/p>\n

The Sloth World controversy<\/a> sparked widespread scrutiny after a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report documented the deaths of 31 sloths intended for the attraction. <\/p>\n

Last month, the zoo announced that Dolce and Chewie had improved enough to be released from intensive care. Phantom\u2019s recovery now adds another positive development for the group as veterinarians continue working to rehabilitate the rescued sloths.<\/p>\n

The zoo has encouraged the public to continue following the sloths\u2019 recovery journey and support ongoing care efforts through its official campaign page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

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\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CENTRAL FLORIDA \u2014 The Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens announced a positive health update for Phantom, one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111472,1060,1828,124192,28,30,29,634,115,124191,1045],"class_list":["post-294740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-central_florida_zoo","tag-channel_9","tag-chewy","tag-dulce","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-local","tag-news","tag-phantom","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294740","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=294740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}