The Central Florida Zoo announced Tuesday May 5, 2026, that Dumpling, one of 13 sloths rescued from an unoccupied International Drive warehouse operated by the failed tourist attraction Sloth World, died Monday morning after 11 days of intensive veterinary care.
It is the third sloth death the zoo has dealt with in less than a week, while frantically caring for and treating the remaining 10 sloths.
Dumpling arrived at the zoo in critical condition and continued to struggle with digestion and gastrointestinal issues in the past 11 days before declining rapidly Monday morning.
“This has been an incredibly difficult week for our team, as everyone involved in caring for these animals can attest,” the zoo’s team wrote in a statement shared on Facebook.
Three sloths named Bandit, Habanero and Dumpling are now dead. Ten remain alive.
The youngest of the critically ill animals, a baby sloth approximately three to four months old named Ginger, is still alive but described by zoo staff as their primary concern.
The Three Deaths And How They Unfolded
All 13 sloths arrived at the Central Florida Zoo in Sanford on April 24, 2026, following their removal from a Sloth World warehouse on International Drive.
They were placed in a 30-day quarantine for close assessment and monitoring. All 13 survived the first two nights.
The deaths began within the first week.
Bandit died on Wednesday April 30, the first loss. The zoo is still awaiting necropsy results to determine the exact cause.
Habanero, an adult male, died on Saturday May 3. Dumpling died Monday morning May 4 before the zoo’s announcement was made Tuesday.
Dumpling was one of four sloths that arrived at the zoo in the most critical condition relative to the others.
Of those four especially vulnerable animals, only one is still alive, a roughly three or four-month-old baby named Ginger, who zoo staff have determined is male.
“[He] is struggling,” said zoo official Scott Glover. “It’s the one we’re probably most concerned about right now.”
Glover said DNA samples might eventually reveal whether Ginger’s mother is also among the sloths currently in the zoo’s care.
Why Sloths Are So Difficult To Save Once They Are This Ill
The zoo’s statement about Dumpling’s death included an explanation of why these animals are so challenging to treat, and why the deaths, once they begin, can come so quickly and so close together.
The zoo noted that sloths have a tendency to hide any signs of extreme illness until it is often too late for reversal, at which point their condition can decline very rapidly and without advance warning.
In addition, their metabolisms work so slowly it could potentially take many weeks for any pre-existing issues to manifest.
That combination, animals who mask illness until the point of no return, with metabolisms so slow that damage from weeks of inadequate care may not become visible until long after the conditions that caused it have changed, means the zoo’s veterinary team is fighting against damage that was done before the animals ever arrived in Sanford.
The sloths were rescued from conditions the zoo cannot undo. What the team can do is treat symptoms as aggressively as possible, monitor hour by hour, and hope.
Zoo animal care teams have been working “hour after hour after hour” to provide medical care for the sloths, Glover said.
What Was Sloth World?
Sloth World was a planned tourist attraction on International Drive, Orlando’s most commercially dense tourism corridor, that never opened.
Owner Benjamin Agresta imported sloths from South America beginning in late 2024 with the intention of housing them at an Orlando attraction.
He has since said he plans to file for bankruptcy and that the attraction will never open.
Sloth World’s owners arranged for the capture and import of at least 61 sloths from their jungle habitats in South America, according to state records. At least 34 of those sloths have died. Conservationists fear the true death toll may be higher.
The conditions in which the sloths were kept before their rescue have been documented in Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission inspection records. The animals, imported in shipments starting in late 2024, were brought to a warehouse on International Drive that had no running water, no electricity and faulty space heaters that were plugged in with extension cords running from another building, according to the FWC report.
The building where the animals were housed was permitted to store vehicles, not to house animals.
More sloths were shipped to Florida and housed at one of two warehouses in Orlando and Orange County even as the death toll mounted.
Sloth World learned that viruses including a “novel two-toed sloth gammaherpesvirus” were making their way throughout the warehouse, according to necropsy reports and internal company emails reviewed by Inside Climate News.
The FWC first uncovered the deaths of 31 sloths under Sloth World’s care in August 2025.
The 13 sloths transferred to the Central Florida Zoo on April 24, 2026, represent the surviving animals from that operation, the ones still alive when authorities finally moved to remove them.
The Investigation And Political Response
State prosecutors are investigating Sloth World’s owners, according to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.
The State Attorney’s office of Monique Worrell has separately denied that a formal investigation is underway, creating a contradictory public picture of where the legal accountability process stands.
Florida Representative Anna Eskamani, a Democrat representing Orlando, called for a criminal investigation into the operators of Sloth World last week in a letter sent to AG Uthmeier.
Eskamani’s letter raised concerns of potential violations of Florida law including animal cruelty and “unlawful acts involving captive wildlife.”
She also questioned the state’s regulatory oversight, describing what happened as a failure of government accountability.
The FWC has not publicly confirmed whether it has opened a formal investigation.
The Broader Problem The Story Has Illuminated
Sam Trull, a sloth researcher who runs a nonprofit focused on sloth conservation, has spoken about what the Sloth World situation represents in the context of a much longer-running problem.
Research published by Trull’s nonprofit shows more than 1,100 wild-caught sloths entered the United States between 2011 and 2021, with the vast majority of live sloth shipments coming through the Port of Miami.
“Sloths have been dying from this commercial trade for a long time. It’s just that it’s been one by one, and so that doesn’t really make the headlines,” Trull said.
What made Sloth World different was scale and documentation. At least 61 sloths imported. At least 34 dead. A warehouse with no running water or electricity.
A novel virus documented moving through the animals. And ultimately a zoo that took in 13 survivors and has watched three of them die in the first eleven days despite the best veterinary care available.
Where Things Stand Now
Ten sloths remain alive at the Central Florida Zoo. The zoo is posting daily updates on its Facebook page. The youngest, baby Ginger, is the most concerning case among the survivors.
The zoo has stated that Dumpling’s death reflects the day-by-day nature of the situation for the remaining sloths in their care.
The Central Florida Zoo has asked the public for continued support. The animals they are now trying to save did not choose to leave the jungle.
They were taken, shipped, warehoused in conditions that were illegal and lethal, and delivered to the zoo already carrying damage that may yet prove fatal for some of the ten who remain.
