Credit: Sloth WorldThe Sloth World story has been building for weeks, and each new development has made the situation look worse than the one before it. What started as an animal welfare report surfacing from a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission inspection has now escalated into a situation involving county code enforcement, a stop-work order, building violations, and an Orlando attraction that has still never opened to the public. Without being open, it continues to accumulate problems at a pace difficult to keep up with.
For anyone following this story since the FWC inspection report first surfaced and drew the attention of Florida State Representative Anna Eskamani, the latest development from Orange County is not a surprise. But it does represent a meaningful escalation in the official pressure bearing down on an operation that has been giving Orlando’s tourism industry a black eye before a single paying guest has ever set foot in its doors. The International Drive warehouse connected to Sloth World has now been cited for code violations following a county inspection, and the stop-work order that accompanied those citations raises serious questions about whether this attraction can realistically move forward at all.
I am appalled to hear about the 31 sloths who died under the “care” of the not yet opened Sloth World in Orlando.
— Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@RepMaxwellFrost) April 23, 2026
These sloths — naturally solitary animals — were put in the worst conditions possible. They were taken from their natural habitats to a packed warehouse that wasn’t…
What Orange County Found
According to reporting from FOX 35 Orlando, county officials conducted an inspection of the International Drive warehouse connected to Sloth World and found the building in violation of code requirements. Specifically, the warehouse lacked the required permits to house animals and did not have proper occupancy approvals for its intended use. A stop-work order was issued as a result of those findings, which, under Orange County building and code enforcement practices, means that all work or use covered by the order must immediately cease until the cited violations are corrected and the county formally authorizes resumption of the activity. This is not a warning or a suggestion. It is an official enforcement action that halts operations until compliance is achieved.
The warehouse in question is the same facility at 7547 International Drive that appeared in the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report dated August 7, 2025. That report documented an unannounced inspection of the facility operated by Sanctuary World Imports, which was being used to receive and acclimate imported sloths before transferring them to the planned Sloth World attraction at 6582 International Drive. The connection between the county enforcement action and the facility already identified in the state wildlife investigation adds another layer to a situation that was already significant before Orange County got involved.
A corporation is building a sloth petting zoo in Orlando by kidnapping wild sloths from rainforests in Guyana.
— spencer 🦈 (@Unpop_Science) April 18, 2026
They have taken 69 sloths and at least 31 are already dead. https://t.co/aI0dbappZ3
Where This Orlando Story Began
The Sloth World situation first reached widespread public attention through investigative reporting that surfaced the FWC inspection report and the deaths of 31 sloths connected to the operation between December 2024 and February 2025. According to statements summarized in that report, owner Peter Bandre told inspectors that 21 sloths from Guyana died after arriving at a warehouse that was not ready, lacking water and electricity, with space heaters powered from a separate building that failed during colder weather. Ten additional sloths from Peru arrived in poor condition, with two dead on arrival and the remaining eight dying subsequently.
The story drew the attention of Florida State Representative Anna Eskamani, who went public on social media, confirming she was contacting the FWC, calling for criminal charges, and revealing that Sloth World holds an expired permit that she argued should remain expired despite the operation’s attempts to renew it. Eskamani also confirmed that, despite the expired permit, the attraction was still in possession of sloths and indicated she would reach out to federal agencies as part of her ongoing effort to hold the operation accountable. She also surfaced a significant regulatory gap, noting that FWC permits do not currently require notification when an animal dies, meaning the deaths at the Sloth World warehouse would not have come to the attention of regulators at all without citizen reporting.
What the Stop-Work Order Means for the Orlando Attraction
The practical implication of the county stop-work order is that the Sloth World operation cannot continue using the warehouse for its intended purpose until the violations are corrected and Orange County formally clears it to resume activity. Given the questions about expired FWC permits, ongoing animal welfare concerns, and the attention the situation has drawn from state representatives and federal agencies, the path to compliance is not straightforward. The attraction has been delayed in opening for several months; its website has been reduced to a placeholder page, and linked social media accounts have appeared blank or inactive following the wave of negative coverage. Sloth World has not responded to media inquiries, and no updated opening timeline or public statement has been provided following the county enforcement action.
The Bigger Picture for Orlando
The Sloth World site is on International Drive, one of the most heavily trafficked tourist corridors in the United States, and is surrounded by Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, and SeaWorld. The address itself has a troubled history, having previously been associated with a planned animal attraction called Cool Zoo that also never opened. The combination of animal welfare violations, expired permits, building code citations, a stop-work order, and ongoing political pressure from a state representative represents an accumulation of enforcement actions that makes it increasingly difficult to see how this operation moves forward in its current form.
For Orlando’s tourism ecosystem, which runs on the trust of guests who arrive expecting a certain standard from every attraction in the market, the Sloth World story is a visible and ongoing reminder of what happens when that standard is not enforced early enough to prevent the damage.
