Dozens of sloths taken from South American forests died at Sloth World, a planned animal-encounter attraction in Orlando, Florida. Government records obtained by Inside Climate News show the toll ultimately topped 50, with most deaths linked to stress and illness. Sloth World never even opened its doors to visitors. Yet after investigating, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office found no crime had been committed.

Now two Florida members of Congress from opposite parties are working to make sure this never happens again. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) and Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) are introducing the SLOTHS Act, short for Stopping Legalized Organized Trafficking and Harm to Sloths. It would ban bringing wild sloths into the United States. Anyone who breaks the law could be fined as much as $100,000 and lose federal import licenses.

Sloths are not built for life as a tourist attraction. In the wild, they live mostly alone high in rainforest trees. When frightened, they don’t run or fight back. They hold the stress inside, and that stress can kill them. Visitors often see a calm, cuddly animal when the sloth is actually suffering. Federal records show more than 1,100 live sloths were shipped into the U.S. between 2011 and 2021.

“It’s not just a Florida problem, it’s a national problem,” Rep. Frost told Inside Climate News.

Sloth experts helped shape the bill. It still lets accredited zoos trade sloths that are already in captivity to keep their populations healthy, and it lets scientists keep studying wild sloths using research samples instead of live animals.

Congress has a rare chance to come together across party lines and protect an animal that can’t protect itself. Sign the petition to tell Congress to pass the SLOTHS Act now, before more wild sloths are pulled from the forest and die for a photo op.