A planned Orlando tourist attraction featuring captive sloths is under investigation after wildlife officials revealed that 31 of the animals died in a warehouse facility between December 2024 and February 2025, prompting Orange County to issue a stop-work order this week.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission released an incident report documenting the deaths at a storage facility operated by Peter Bandre, the then-owner of the forthcoming Sloth World attraction. According to the report, 21 two-toed sloths imported from Guyana died from "cold stun" after temporary heaters malfunctioned. The warehouse lacked its own power and water supply, with heaters instead running through extension cables from a neighboring building.
An additional 10 sloths from Peru also perished. Two arrived dead, while the remaining eight died from poor health conditions marked by severe weight loss.
An August 2025 FWC inspection found the sloth enclosures violated animal welfare regulations. The agency issued only a verbal warning for the violations rather than fines or citations. The building itself is permitted for vehicle storage, not animal housing, according to Fox 35, the local news outlet that first broke the story.
The deaths have ignited calls from animal welfare organizations to permanently block the attraction's opening, which was previously scheduled for early 2026. World Animal Protection US condemned what it described as a brutal operation that extracted wild animals from their natural habitats and subjected them to lethal conditions.
"These solitary, reclusive animals were brutally taken from their natural habitat, left to starve and freeze, and eventually die of infection," said Nicole Barrantes, wildlife campaign manager for the advocacy group. "The ruthless appetite to exploit wild animals just to make money must be addressed."
Congressman Maxwell Frost, a Democrat representing central Florida, announced his office was investigating the incident. He described the conditions as deliberately harmful to the animals, noting that the crowded warehouse environment without proper heating allowed deadly viruses to spread and caused stress-induced deaths in naturally solitary creatures.
Orange County building inspectors visited the warehouse on Thursday and found it abandoned, immediately issuing the stop-work order. The FWC had previously released its report after the discovery of the deaths but did not pursue enforcement action at that time.
The Sloth World website describes the 7,500-square-foot facility as the world's only "slotharium†featuring more than 40 sloths living in a rainforest-inspired indoor environment. Peter Bandre is cited as a major figure in sloth exhibition, the site claims he has been responsible for 90% of sloths currently displayed at U.S. exhibits. Bandre has since departed the project, with Ben Agresta now listed as sole owner and president.
In a statement to Fox 35, Sloth World disputed the FWC findings and denied claims that animals froze or lacked water and power. The statement asserted that the FWC had "fully renewed our license" and found "absolutely no wrongdoings" during an inspection. However, this account contradicts the FWC incident report, which documented the facility violations and animal deaths.
The Sloth Institute and the Sloth Conservation Foundation jointly condemned the venture in January, warning that removing wild animals for entertainment normalizes extraction at a time when species face mounting habitat loss. The Sloth Institute's analysis found that 1,141 sloths were imported to the United States between 2011 and 2021, with 97% originating from Guyana.
Author James Rodriguez: "This wasn't negligence that happened to be discovered, it was negligence discovered after dozens of animals were already dead and the owners were still planning to charge admission."
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