Wild-caught sloths from Guyana and Peru are about to be used for tourist entertainment in Orlando, Florida. There’s still a chance to stop this.
Over the weekend, news broke of a new animal exploitation venue located in Orlando, Florida called Sloth World, which plans to use wild-caught sloths for an interactive tourist experience. There is no sugarcoating it. It’s horrible.
Before being captured, the sloths at Sloth World were living in the wild in Guyana and Peru, up in the forest canopies far away from humans. Now, they are living in Florida, in a fabricated, unnatural environment designed for tourists. During transport, the sloths were starved, left to freeze, and according to inspection reports, 31 died of infection in a warehouse without electricity or water, including a 9-month-old baby named Kiwi.
Sloth World leadership claims it’s contributing to conservation efforts, but as we have seen before, commercial companies that use wild animals for entertainment, such as SeaWorld, only do so for profit. When asked by the media which conservation organizations Sloth World was supporting, the CEO of Sloth World declined to comment.
This is a tragic situation that should have never happened. However, there is still time to stop Sloth World from opening to the public, as the company continues to delay its launch. You can help by taking one or both of our actions below.
Send an email to the city of Orlando and Visit Orlando, urging them to shut Sloth World down.
Leave a Google review on Sloth World’s page and raise awareness about the tragic deaths that happened.