{"id":607953,"date":"2026-04-26T19:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T19:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/607953\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T19:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T19:20:15","slug":"the-fight-to-shut-down-orlandos-sloth-world-before-it-opens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/607953\/","title":{"rendered":"The fight to shut down Orlando’s ‘Sloth World’ before it opens"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Florida congressman is demanding the USDA block permits for Orlando\u2019s “Sloth World” after reports that 31 sloths died in a warehouse zoned for car storage.<\/p>\n

Congressman Maxwell Frost<\/a> (D-10) is leading the call for accountability, publicly demanding that the United States Department of Agriculture<\/a> deny any operating permits to the facility’s owners following the disturbing discovery.<\/p>\n

“Number one, that place should not be able to open. OK, I’m sorry,” Frost told WESH<\/a> reporters. “You killed 31 sloths. You don’t know what the hell you’re doing. You’re trying to evade accountability from both the public and the government, and so you should just not be able to open.”<\/p>\n

An investigation by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission<\/a> revealed the sloths were being held at a warehouse less than five minutes from Sloth World<\/a>. More disturbingly, the last inspection was in 2021, and the building was permitted to store cars, not animals.<\/p>\n

See also: Remains found identified as one of the missing USF students, roommate in custody: HCSO<\/a><\/p>\n

A spokesperson with Orange County said an inspector attempted to get in four times on Thursday but was unable to enter. WESH<\/a> reports that less than 24 hours after an inspector posted a stop-work order on the building, it was taken down.<\/p>\n

Reporters on the scene observed moving vans and empty crates at the facility on Friday, with individuals entering and exiting the premises without speaking to the media.<\/p>\n

Recent documents confirm that while wildlife officers have returned to the site multiple times, most recently in March, the current conditions appear to be more controlled. Reports describe the facility as clean, with remaining animals provided with fresh food, water, and appropriate heating.<\/p>\n

Despite the improvement, Frost is urging federal oversight:<\/p>\n

We know that the owner and operator of this facility is currently seeking the permit he needs from the USDA to showcase the animals. We believe that he should be denied this permit. We don’t want to see any more animals killed.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the incident, some surviving sloths from the warehouse have been donated to the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Seminole County, where they are receiving care.<\/p>\n

Federal regulators have yet to make a final decision on the USDA permit application for Sloth World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Florida congressman is demanding the USDA block permits for Orlando\u2019s “Sloth World” after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-607953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}