Florida leaders demand accountability after 55 Sloth World deaths
Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani and international sloth experts pressed for accountability after more than 50 sloths tied to sloth world Orlando died, putting the project’s handling of imported animals under fresh scrutiny. The deaths were tied to a warehouse operation in Central Florida, where state records later showed dozens of sloths had died.
Dr. Rebecca Cliffe said the deaths were not random. She said placing highly sensitive animals into a warehouse with no electricity, no heat, and no running water resulted in suffering that was predictable, visible, and entirely preventable.
Orlando warehouse deaths
State records showed that dozens of sloths tied to Sloth World died, and the toll reached 55 deaths after three sloths brought to the Central Florida Zoo for treatment died. Sam Trull said what happened at Sloth World was unique in the number of sloths that died, especially in such a short amount of time, even as she noted that the business model itself was not unique.
That number turned a local permitting dispute into a wider test of oversight. The sloths were intended to be part of Sloth World Orlando, a project tied to imported sloths and other exotic animals for public exhibition and personal ownership.
Anna Eskamani pushes Florida changes
Anna Eskamani said animal deaths under a class three permit should be reported and made public, and she said a permit should not be renewed while a death is still being investigated. Eskamani also said Florida had an opportunity to slow down that importation and potentially ban it completely.
Nicole Wilson, the Orange County Commissioner, said the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission investigated in August of 2025 and failed to notify building inspectors. Wilson said current permitting regulations did not allow officials to gain entry, but she said they still saw evidence that animals were being kept in the warehouse.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission said it found no evidence of violations. Cliffe challenged that conclusion directly, saying, “The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has stated that they found no evidence of violations. But under Florida law, it's a criminal offense to subject animals to unnecessary suffering. Placing highly sensitive animals into a warehouse with no electricity, no heat, and no running water resulted in suffering that was predictable, visible, and entirely preventable. I struggle to understand how that does not constitute a violation. And if this does not meet the threshold for suffering under the law, then we have to act whether the threshold is set far too low and whether the laws are sufficient.”
Wilson said, “FWC in August of 2025 investigated and then failed to notify building inspectors. In August of 2025, if FWCs didn't believe that wildlife was their concern in that warehouse, all they had to do was make a call to building safety, code enforcement, Commissioner Wilson's office, Commissioner Scott's office. And we would have sent our own people there. Right now under our current permitting regulations, they were unable to gain entry, but still saw evidence that there were animals being kept in the warehouse. I'm working today, tomorrow and coming days to make sure that we close that gap and provide them the authorization necessary in order to be able to gain entry if there's evidence of this type of animal cruelty inside.”
The next move now falls to Florida officials weighing whether to change reporting rules for deaths tied to a class three permit and whether to tighten importation rules before any renewal reaches the same review path again.
