Florida Regulators Stood by as Dozens of Sloths Died, New Records Reveal
Smadar Spector
Florida Regulators Stood by as Dozens of Sloths Died, New Records Reveal
Internal emails obtained by Inside Climate News show the state of Florida saw no need to stop the unfolding mass deaths of sloths at a planned Orlando tourist attraction.
The first warning reached the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission before a single sloth had arrived in Orlando.
On Dec. 9, 2024, a member of the public called the agency after seeing advertisements for a new business called Sloth World. The caller said owner Benjamin Agresta was hiring employees and telling prospective workers that the facility’s first shipment of the tree-dwelling mammals would arrive within days.
An FWC employee found no active permits associated with Agresta, Sloth World or the Orlando address where the attraction was being developed.
“So just wanted to pass along to you,” the employee wrote in an internal email the same day to an agency investigator, who went out to take a look—eight months later, after at least 31 of the sloths had died.
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. (Will Rogers)
the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe
"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
Until every cage is empty. Until every animal is free
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התחברות אל בע"ח במקום לשלוט בהם מרוממת אותנו לכוכבים (ברברה קלו הנד)