Press Release | Sloth Protection Alliance Question Finding of No Criminal Neglect After 57 Sloth Deaths
The Sloth Protection Alliance is calling for answers after the Orange County Sheriff’s Office found no evidence of criminal neglect in the Sloth World investigation, despite its own report documenting repeated deaths, severe illness, environmental failures and serious husbandry concerns.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 20, 2026
The Sloth Protection Alliance, formed by The Sloth Conservation Foundation and The Sloth Institute, is questioning how the documented suffering and deaths of 57 sloths connected to Sloth World Orlando could fall outside Florida’s animal cruelty laws following the conclusion of an investigation by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO).
After a three-month investigation, OCSO concluded that the deaths resulted from multiple contributing factors affecting the animals’ health and survivability and that investigators found no evidence of intentional harm, abuse, criminal neglect, failure to provide necessary care, or a deliberate act or omission by facility personnel that contributed to the deaths.
The case has now been referred to the State Attorney’s Office.
The Alliance recognizes the time and resources OCSO dedicated to investigating the case. However, after reviewing the investigative report alongside veterinary records, necropsy findings and the biological requirements of sloths, its experts believe serious questions remain about how the documented evidence was assessed against Florida’s animal cruelty statutes.
Florida law does not only address deliberate harm
Under Florida law, animal cruelty is not limited to deliberately harming an animal. Florida Statute 828.12 states that a person who has custody or control of an animal and “fails to act,” resulting in a cruel death or the excessive or repeated infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering, can commit aggravated animal cruelty.
Following OCSO’s announcement that it found no evidence of criminal activity, The Sloth Conservation Foundation’s Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Rebecca Cliffe, says she is struggling to understand how the documented treatment and suffering of these animals could possibly fall outside that definition.
The Alliance believes there are multiple serious and documented reasons why this case warranted consideration under Florida’s animal cruelty laws.
1. Twenty-one tropical sloths were housed in a warehouse that was not ready to receive them
According to evidence documented in the investigation, the facility did not have permanent electricity or running water when the animals arrived. Heat was being provided using space heaters connected by extension cords to another building.
Those heaters repeatedly tripped the electrical breaker and shut off. During a cold-weather event, the sloths were left without adequate heat for hours while temperatures fell into the 40s Fahrenheit.
Sloths are tropical mammals with an extremely limited ability to regulate their own body temperature. All 21 animals subsequently died.
2. Nobody was present overnight to intervene
The sloths were left unattended overnight while their survival depended upon an improvised heating system known to repeatedly fail.
The Alliance believes that leaving highly temperature-sensitive tropical animals unattended under these conditions exposed them to avoidable suffering and a foreseeable risk of serious harm.
3. Sloths were housed together despite the risk of aggression
Multiple sloths were housed together despite sloths being solitary animals.
Unfamiliar wild adult sloths should not be housed together without careful management because of the risk of aggression. Records reviewed in connection with the case document serious traumatic injuries consistent with fighting between animals.
4. Veterinary records document extensive suffering
Veterinary and necropsy records associated with the mortality events document severe diarrhea, pneumonia, dehydration, anorexia, gastrointestinal dysfunction, neurological abnormalities, dangerously low body temperatures, weakness, traumatic injuries and systemic illness.
These animals were not simply “diseased.” Their condition and the severity of their symptoms must also be considered in the context of the care, treatment, monitoring and husbandry they received. Appropriate veterinary intervention and species-specific husbandry are critical to preventing further deterioration and minimizing suffering, particularly in animals already compromised by disease, stress or transport.
5. Animals continued to be exposed despite evidence of a possible infectious disease outbreak
OCSO’s report discusses infectious disease as one of the major potential contributors to the mass mortalities. If infectious disease contributed substantially to these deaths, the Alliance believes serious questions must also be asked about whether adequate quarantine, disease screening and biosecurity measures were implemented to prevent transmission between animals.
Continuing to expose vulnerable animals to a population experiencing unexplained mass mortality created a foreseeable risk of further illness and suffering.
6. Wild sloths continued to be acquired as animals became sick and died
The deaths did not result from one isolated event involving a single animal. Despite repeated mortality and serious illness, additional wild-caught sloths continued to enter the operation.
The investigative report itself documents concerns raised by AZA Sloth Species Survival Plan coordinator Debra Dial, who told investigators that she did not understand why Sloth World had been permitted to continue importing additional sloths after losing so many animals.
7. The surviving animals ultimately required intensive veterinary care
When the remaining sloths were surrendered and transferred to the Central Florida Zoo, veterinary staff reported that the majority arrived in extremely poor condition.
Animals presented with problems including dehydration, low body condition and severe gastrointestinal disease. Several required intensive veterinary intervention, and additional animals subsequently died.
All four sloths that died after their transfer to the zoo were confirmed to be emaciated.
Disease does not eliminate responsibility for care
Much of the mortality has been attributed to disease, but identifying disease in these animals does not answer the equally important question of why they became so severely unwell. Some of the viruses detected in the Sloth World animals are also found naturally in wild sloth populations, where they may be present without causing severe disease. The investigation itself acknowledges that stress and environmental and husbandry conditions may have contributed to disease susceptibility and progression.
These were wild animals with highly specialized biological, nutritional, environmental and behavioral needs. They were entirely dependent upon the people who chose to import them, confine them and assume responsibility for their care.
Disease cannot be considered in isolation from the conditions in which these animals were kept. Inadequate nutrition, inappropriate environmental conditions, chronic stress, poor husbandry and insufficient veterinary intervention can leave already vulnerable animals less able to cope with infection and can contribute to deterioration.
If anything, animals already compromised by capture, international transport, stress or illness require greater levels of appropriate care, monitoring and veterinary intervention.
There is also an important distinction between determining the immediate medical cause of an animal’s death and determining whether that animal experienced unnecessary suffering, or whether acts or failures to act contributed to that suffering. Finding evidence of disease does not, by itself, answer either of those questions.
Questions remain about the expert assessment
The Alliance is also concerned that neither The Sloth Conservation Foundation nor The Sloth Institute was interviewed by OCSO during its investigation, and that no veterinarian specializing in wild sloths was consulted, despite the highly specialized biology, veterinary needs, and husbandry requirements of sloths being central to the case.
Both organizations have extensive expertise in sloth biology, behavior, veterinary medicine and welfare and have been closely involved in discovering the evidence surrounding Sloth World.
Notably, the sloth husbandry expert interviewed by investigators, Debra Dial, raised significant concerns herself. According to the investigative report, Dial did not believe viral disease was the primary cause of the mortality event and considered the findings more consistent with improper environmental or husbandry conditions. She also raised concerns about cage sizes and other aspects of husbandry.
If these circumstances do not meet Florida’s threshold for animal cruelty, what does?
“More than anything, I am angry. 57 sloths suffered and died, and yet somehow we have reached the end of this investigation with nobody being held accountable. If everything documented in this investigation can happen legally, then there is something seriously wrong with the laws. This is just another reason why we need to end the importation of wild-caught sloths into the United States. Now, we will turn our anger into determination to make sure that this can never, ever happen again.
Those 57 sloths will not have died in vain. Their legacy will be ending the trade in wild-caught sloths that put them there in the first place.”
The investigation strengthens the case for ending wild-caught sloth imports
The OCSO investigation also documents evidence suggesting that some animals may have been compromised before they ever reached Florida.
Witnesses raised concerns about conditions in source countries, nutrition before export, young animals potentially being separated from their mothers prematurely, animals arriving dehydrated or already experiencing health problems, and the physiological consequences of international transportation.
The fact that their suffering began before they reached U.S. soil does not absolve Sloth World of that part of the process. The sloths were captured from the wild, held, prepared for export and transported because they had been ordered for Sloth World’s commercial operation. Their suffering before arrival into Florida is Sloth World’s fault, and the neglect continued once they entered Sloth World property. The risks associated with capture, pre-export holding and international transport were part of the supply chain created by that decision.
“I appreciate that law enforcement officers at the OCSO spent three months conducting an investigation into the Sloth World tragedy, but I am really disappointed to learn that none of the suffering that 57+ sloths endured constitutes criminal neglect under current Florida laws. To me, this highlights the need for legal changes that better protect all animals, especially sensitive species like sloths.
This wasn’t just an ‘unpreventable accident’. These sloths were failed by every person they met while they were still alive, and now, even after a cruel death, they were failed by the justice system. But we will not fail them. We will keep fighting until change is made and can ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”
Rather than diminishing the need for stronger protections in the United States, the Alliance believes these findings demonstrate a fundamental problem with the international wildlife trade itself.
If U.S. authorities cannot control or guarantee how wild sloths are captured, housed, fed and treated before export, cannot ensure that compromised animals will not be transported, and cannot eliminate the significant physiological stress associated with international transport, then wild-caught sloths should not be imported into the United States for commercial entertainment.
Through the Sloth Protection Alliance, The Sloth Conservation Foundation and The Sloth Institute continue to work with policymakers, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and other stakeholders on regulatory and legislative reforms aimed at strengthening protections for sloths and ending the commercial importation of wild-caught animals.
Fifty-seven sloths are dead.
The documented evidence describes repeated mortality, inadequate environmental conditions, traumatic injuries, severe illness and animals requiring intensive veterinary intervention.
The public deserves to understand how those facts were assessed against Florida’s animal cruelty laws.
How You Can Help
The progress we've made has only been possible because people around the world chose to speak up. But our work is far from over.
You can support the Sloth Protection Alliance by signing our petition calling for stronger protections for wild sloths and an end to their commercial exploitation. If you're able, please also consider making a donation. Your support helps us continue investigating the wildlife trade, provide scientific evidence to policymakers, develop stronger legislation, and advocate for lasting protections that keep sloths where they belong: in the wild.
