{"id":301418,"date":"2026-06-09T15:41:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/301418\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T15:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:41:07","slug":"proposed-sloth-reforms-target-floridas-exotic-animal-loopholes-after-sloth-world-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/301418\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed sloth reforms target Florida\u2019s exotic animal loopholes after Sloth World collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 In the wake of a mass animal die-off with ties to a failed Orlando attraction<\/a>, state lawmakers and sloth conservation groups continue their push for stronger sloth regulations in Florida. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, State Rep. Anna Eskamani and the Sloth Protection Alliance \u2014 a collaboration between the Sloth Conservation Foundation and The Sloth Institute \u2014 announced the submission of a five-point reform package to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, calling for tighter import rules, stronger welfare standards, and greater regulatory oversight.<\/p>\n

The push follows the collapse of Sloth World, a planned International Drive attraction in Orlando, where 56 imported wild-caught sloths have died.<\/p>\n

Since receiving 13 rescued sloths from the attraction, the Central Florida Zoo has announced four deaths<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sloth World deaths weren\u2019t a one-off failure \u2014 they were a warning about a system that simply isn\u2019t built to protect these animals,\u201d Eskamani said in a news release.<\/p>\n

Among the proposed reforms: <\/p>\n

Ban the import of wild-caught sloths, with limited exceptions for accredited zoos operating under the Sloth Species Survival Plan<\/p>\n

Create a specialized regulatory category for sloths, or upgrade them from their current Class III classification to one that better reflects their complex care needs<\/p>\n

Require reporting of all sloth deaths, transfers, sales and births<\/p>\n

Prohibit hands-on \u201csloth encounter\u201d experiences, while allowing educational viewing and no-contact feeding<\/p>\n

Close a loophole that allows offspring of wild-caught sloths to be marketed as captive-bred<\/p>\n

FWC has since announced a temporary halt <\/a>on sloth importation and is forming a task force<\/a> to pursue rule changes before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

A criminal investigation into Sloth World remains active, with the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office assisting Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Sanford community continues to rally around the zoo\u2019s efforts to care for the animals. A T-shirt fundraiser is currently going on.<\/a> Shirts are $35 and can be bought online.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 In the wake of a mass animal die-off with ties to a failed Orlando attraction,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[6654,28,1335,139,141,140,1014,126568,44637,2411],"class_list":["post-301418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-central-florida-zoo","tag-florida","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-seminole-county","tag-sloth-word","tag-sloths","tag-theme-parks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301418","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=301418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}