Today, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office issued the following report regarding its investigation of Sloth World. The conclusion they reached is:
“I want to thank the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for the rigor they brought to this investigation and for taking our concerns and the community’s concerns so seriously. Over more than three months, their detectives reviewed facility records, veterinary and diagnostic documentation, and inspection histories, and conducted more than twenty interviews with state and national experts. They did their job thoroughly and professionally, and under current law, I accept that the conclusion they reached.
That is why we need to change the law and rules governing captive wildlife in Florida. Dozens of sloths were captured, shipped across the world, and died, and under Florida law as it exists today, no one is held accountable. That is not a failure of the investigators. It is a failure of our statutes and our rules. When a facility can be in full compliance with every applicable state standard and animals still die by the dozens, the standards themselves are the problem. Compliance is not the same as care.
I will be working with my colleagues in the Legislature, with FWC, and with wildlife and veterinary experts to strengthen Florida’s rules on the importation, permitting, and housing of exotic and highly specialized species, and to close the gaps this case exposed. No animal should be brought into our state to suffer and die because our laws were too weak to stop it. I am grateful to every Central Floridian who refused to let this go. Your voices are why this case was investigated at all, and they are why the law and rules will change.”