Five of the sloths that came to the zoo have since died. But the eight remaining in the zoo\u2019s care are doing well<\/a>, health-wise and with ongoing human desensitization training.<\/p>\n The training helps staff collect vitals from the animals and provide required treatments without causing them unnecessary stress, associate zoo veterinarian Dr. Haley Straub said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis species in particular is a very stressy species, and they don’t react well to very high-stress situations,\u201d Straub said. \u201cTrying to accomplish what we need to do in the least stressful manner is very, very important for their management.\u201d<\/p>\n As the sloths are increasingly desensitized to having members of the zoo\u2019s animal care teams in their space, they\u2019ll only become more comfortable participating in the diagnostic and treatment processes necessary for them to stay healthy.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the goal: for the animals themselves to participate in their own care. It\u2019s all about facilitating what Straub calls a key foundation of zoo medicine: \u201cchoice and control.\u201d<\/p>\n A scale created by the zoo\u2019s training team allows staff members to collect \u201cvoluntary weights\u201d for the sloths from right inside their exhibit, instead of needing to pick up the animals and bring them into a medical facility. Straub said it\u2019s \u201ca huge advantage\u201d being able to avoid handling the sloths directly.<\/p>\n Staff are also working on a way to collect \u201cvoluntary\u201d X-rays from the sloths, Straub said. \u201cIf we’re able to bring our plate out to their exhibit and bring our machine out, and they’re able to just hang from their enclosure and eat some food from their keepers, and we’re able to shoot an X-ray and get the image that we need without even having to handle the animal \u2014 that is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n Courtesy Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens<\/p>\n Chewie, one of the eight sloths at the zoo, trains to get into an X-ray position by hanging from his back legs and doing a long stretch toward the ground. Getting the sloths to participate in voluntary X-rays eliminates the need to sedate or restrain the animals in order to evaluate them, according to the zoo.<\/p>\n Sloths are sensitive animals with highly specific dietary needs and slow metabolisms. Their slow digestive systems can delay the onset of symptoms until they become more severe and difficult to treat.<\/p>\n Because of those factors, zoo staff have been cautious in speaking about their prognosis. At least some of the five sloths that recently died had appeared to be improving before suddenly experiencing \u201ca very, very quick medical downfall,\u201d Straub said.<\/p>\n Courtesy Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens<\/p>\n Leeloo, the smallest sloth at the zoo, is very shy but recently started coming out of her shell. \u201cShe’d come out for food, but she would not come out for people. And now, it’s really cool to see her move about, and she will come up to the [zoo]keepers and participate with them,\u201d said associate zoo veterinarian Dr. Haley Straub.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really are not sure exactly when we’re going to be fully out of the woods with this whole group,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n These days, though, the sloths\u2019 progress is helping zoo staff \u201cfeel a little bit more hopeful\u201d about what the animals\u2019 future might look like, Straub said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s not the goal to ever have them be handled by people \u2014 not for photo opportunities or anything like that,\u201d Straub said. \u201cHowever, they are going to be in captive environments, in AZA institutions, for the remainder of their life, because of their situation. And so we’re doing everything we can to set them up for success.\u201d<\/p>\n While lots of details are still being worked out, the hope is that some of the sloths can stay at the zoo in Sanford, Straub said. Some will likely end up at other facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The zoo is one of 240 facilities<\/a> worldwide with the accreditation, a marker widely seen as the gold standard for animal care and conservation education.<\/p>\n A temporary ban on importing sloths to the state of Florida expires Friday, and from there, a new sloth permit requirement will take effect. The vast majority of sloth imports to the U.S. come through the Port of Miami, according to Sloth Institute research<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight sloths receiving care behind the scenes at the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Sanford are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-332408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332408","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=332408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Chewie,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783464013_201_.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Leeloo,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783464014_658_.jpeg\"\/)
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