Editorial: Sloths' tragic journey shows need for change

Here's what heaven looks like to a sloth: Hanging out in a rain forest, rarely coming down from the verdant canopy where they are safe from predators; moving slowly, basking in the sun and eating just enough native foliage and fruits to support their drowsy metabolisms.

But a 2017 video shot in Peru and posted by National Geographic shows how quickly that paradise can turn into hell. Over the course of two minutes, a pair of poachers with pixelated faces spot a sloth roosting in a tall tree. There's no need to climb; they simply cut the tree down, drag the stunned and unresisting animal out of the branches and stuff it in a cloth sack. Eventually, this sloth will be crammed, along with others, into small crates and shipped to countries like the United States, where they are bought by people planning to keep them as pets or exhibit them for profit in so-called "animal encounter" attractions.

That was to be the fate of dozens of sloths imported into Florida by the owners of Sloth World, a planned "slotharium" intended for an old storefront in Orlando's hectic International Drive. In the blurbs for the attraction, the owners promised a perfectly warmed and humidified environment "where a snuggle of sloths live their slowest, happiest lives."

But grim reality was just a few blocks away, in a concrete-floored, unheated car-storage facility where, in a "routine, unannounced investigation" August 7, wildlife officers found six living sloths crammed into too-small cages, where an officer observed multiple food scraps that included almost nothing sloths would normally eat. One of the owners told officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that 31 other sloths, from Guyana and Peru, had died - either on the way to the attraction or after arriving and being stored over cold nights in a building with no heat or running water.

Death toll at least 55

That report was a few sloths short. Currently, the FWC says that at least 52 sloths died waiting to be put on exhibition at Sloth World. Necropsies of eight sloths performed at the University of Florida revealed that they probably died slowly and painfully, some with guts bloated from inappropriate food and rotting intestines. The necropsies also revealed pneumonia and infections from a broad array of pathogens.

A week later, it was clear that Sloth World would never open. Its owner "donated" the 13 living sloths to the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens April 25/ Since then, three more animals have died, bringing the final count to 55.

There are obvious questions there. But horrified Floridians are starting to see answers to the most important ones, starting with: "How do we keep this from ever happening again?"

Quick action was warranted

And laudably, they are watching many of their elected officials swing into action. That starts with State Rep. Anna V. Eskamani and U.S. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, two Orlando Democrats who were made aware of the deaths right before news broke in late April. At a press conference Wednesday at the zoo, they vowed to work on blocks of federal and state legislation meant to keep something like this from ever happening again. The two should take their cue from the leaders of two organizations who traveled from Costa Rica to Central Florida to offer their help: Rebecca Cliffe of the Sloth Conservation Foundation, which works to preserve and reconnect sloth habitat, and Sam Trull of the Sloth Institute, which rehabilitates sloths capable of being released in the wild.

Editorial: How did a tragedy like Sloth World happen? Find answers

Their answer is simple: Stop trapping sloths and other exotic animals in their native habitat. Stop allowing them to be imported into the U.S. Stop allowing people to attempt to keep them as pets. Stop allowing small-time animal attractions to exhibit them. It's good that Frost and Eskamani are seeking solutions that can be implemented quickly, and hearing from a bipartisan group of lawmakers who want to know what they can do to help. It's also good to see Orange/Osecola State Attorney Monique Worrell and James Uthmeier, currently acting as Florida's Attorney General, agreeing to investigate whether Sloth World owners broke any laws. (They might also look into why FWC didn't confiscate the remaining sloths after learning in August that 31 were dead.)

But a shutdown to exotic-animal exploitation should be the end goal.

Stop the carnage

That doesn't mean the end of accredited zoos. In fact, the Central Florida Zoo is playing a hero's role in this heartbreaking rescue, following official guidelines from the national Association of Zoos and Aquariums in trying to nurse the sloths back to health. It's a task that zoo CEO Richard Glover said costs between $1,500 and $2,000 a day for routine care, not including any significant veterinary treatment.

He agrees with Cliffe and Trull that the Sloth World survivors will probably live out their lives under human care, since the remaining 10 are all still considered "touch and go." Injuries and sickness in captive sloths often goes undetected until their health has deteriorated significantly - and even Trull sometimes has trouble detecting the signs, she said.

This is one of the most important reasons that relatively amateurish operations should not be allowed to import exotic wildlife: Even with the best of intentions, inexperienced caregivers can fail to catch the signs that show an animal is failing. That's particularly noteworthy with sloths, with faces configured in a permanently benevolent expression. "They can be smiling while they're dying," Trull said. That's a tragic ending that nobody who cares for animals wants to see.

For updates, and to support the zoo in caring for the sloths, visit www.centralfloridazoo.org/sloths-at-the-central-florida-zoo. For more background on sloths, or to support conservation efforts, visit www.slothconservation.org or www.theslothinstitute.org.

The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Executive Editor Roger Simmons and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Use insight@orlandosentinel.com to contact us.

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