Mass Sloth Deaths in Florida Show Why the Wildlife Trade Is a Pandemic Risk
Key takeaways
- Republish Most Popular An Iowa Town Spent $800,000 on a New Well.
- The sloths had distended stomachs, diarrhea matted into fur and lungs congested with pneumonia.
- The Orlando business where they died, called Sloth World, closed before ever opening to the public amid a backlash after an April investigation by Inside Climate News.
Why this matters: environmental and climate reporting with long-term consequences.
Republish Most Popular An Iowa Town Spent $800,000 on a New Well. It Pumps Undrinkable Water. Colorado River Faces ‘Devastating Consequences’ If Another Dry Winter Lands, Experts Warn Dolphins, Sharks, Turtles and Workers Are All Victims of Unregulated Squid Fleets Justice & Health Mass Sloth Deaths in Florida Show Why the Wildlife Trade Is a Pandemic Risk Necropsy reports from sloths imported by a planned Orlando tourist attraction document stressed animals riddled with bacteria, parasites and viruses. Scientists say the situation is a warning about the threat the booming wildlife trade poses to human health. By Katie Surma, Kiley PriceJune 7, 2026 Share This Article Republish When pathologists cut open dead sloths from a planned Florida tourist attraction, they found a plethora of pathogens.
Parasites, bacteria and viruses were all lurking in animals weakened by grueling international transport and stressful conditions at the warehouse that received them, according to necropsy records and a state inspection report obtained by Inside Climate News through an open records request. The sloths had distended stomachs, diarrhea matted into fur and lungs congested with pneumonia.
The Orlando business where they died, called Sloth World, closed before ever opening to the public amid a backlash after an April investigation by Inside Climate News. But wildlife scientists, epidemiologists and veterinary pathologists say the details of the mass deaths spotlight broader public-health concerns with the multi-billion-dollar legal wildlife trade in an era where three-quarters of new infectious diseases originate in animals.