Credit: Central Florida ZooThe Sloth World story has been one of the hardest animal welfare narratives to follow in recent Central Florida history, and following it has required a specific kind of emotional stamina. Every update over the past few weeks has resulted in a loss. Bandit died. Habanero died. Dumpling died. Mr. Ginger, the youngest and smallest of the thirteen sloths rescued from an Orange County warehouse on April 24 and brought to the Central Florida Zoo, was humanely euthanized on May 15 after weeks of intensive care that could not overcome what had been done to him before he ever arrived. He was estimated to be four to six months old. He had been hand-fed every few hours and kept in an incubator to help regulate his body temperature. The zoo called him a fighter. It was not enough.
Four of the thirteen rescued sloths have died. Fifty-six sloths in total have perished since December 2024, animals imported from Guyana and Peru and kept in a warehouse with no heat, no running water, and no windows, their care so inadequate that a novel two-toed sloth gammaherpesvirus spread through the facility largely unchecked while Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission inspectors issued a verbal warning and left without charges.
The criminal investigation into Sloth World is open. No charges have been filed. Florida has banned the import of sloths until at least July 10. A task force has been formed to overhaul the rules governing exotic animal permits. The damage to the animals caught in this situation has been enormous and, in most cases, irreversible.
And then, on May 18, the Central Florida Zoo shared an update that for the first time in weeks did not carry loss with it.
Dolce and Chewie Are Out of the ICU
Two of the nine surviving Sloth World sloths, named Dolce and Chewie, have been cleared from the ICU and are now stable while recovering in quarantine at the Central Florida Zoo. The update came alongside photos of the pair, and the internet responded with exactly the warmth that a story this difficult has been desperately in need of. Dolce and Chewie appear alert and calm in the images, resting among branches and greenery inside their recovery habitat. One hangs upside down, peeking through the leaves with the kind of expression uniquely capable of making a person feel something immediately. The other appears to look directly at the camera with the unhurried confidence of an animal that has decided things are going to be fine now.
The Central Florida Zoo described both sloths as fighters, a word the zoo has used throughout this ordeal for every animal in its care, and said both are continuing to battle every day as staff carefully monitor their progress. Zoo officials were clear that the situation can still change at any moment and that recovery from the kind of damage these animals sustained is not linear. Being cleared from the ICU and stable in quarantine is meaningful progress. It is not a finished story.
But it is the first genuinely good news this story has produced in weeks, and for an animal welfare community that has been absorbing loss after loss since the Sloth World situation became public, Dolce and Chewie matter in a way that goes beyond the individual animals.
What the Road to This Moment Looked Like
The thirteen sloths brought to the Central Florida Zoo on April 24 arrived severely dehydrated, underweight, and with serious gastrointestinal issues after being held in the warehouse. All thirteen arrived in poor condition. Four of them, including Bandit, Habanero, Dumpling, and Mr. Ginger, were considered the most critical upon arrival, and all four have since died. The cause of death for Bandit, Habanero, and Dumpling was listed as emaciation following necropsies, attributed to their previous care at Sloth World.
The nine remaining sloths, including Dolce and Chewie, have been receiving around-the-clock care from the Central Florida Zoo’s veterinary and animal care teams since April 24. Central Florida Zoo CEO Richard Glover has acknowledged throughout this process that there is no guarantee any of the remaining sloths will ultimately survive, noting that bloodwork has shown the animals were fed the wrong diet for a long time, with critical effects on their bodies. The names of the other seven surviving sloths have not been released.
Why This Sloth Update Matters
The Sloth World story is not over. The criminal investigation continues without charges. The FWC task force is working. The import ban runs through July 10. The seven other surviving sloths are still in care with uncertain outcomes. The accountability that Florida Representative Anna Eskamani and conservation organizations have been pushing for has not yet arrived in the form of consequences for the people responsible for the conditions that killed 56 animals.
But Dolce and Chewie are out of the ICU. They are stable. They are in their recovery habitat, hanging upside down and looking at the camera, alive and apparently unaware of how many people have been hoping for exactly this kind of update.
Fifty-six sloths are gone. These two are still here. That is worth saying clearly and without qualification in the middle of a story that has had very few moments worth celebrating.
Chewie and Dolce are fighting. Today, that is enough.
