With faces that appear to be smiling, sloths, native to Central and South America, have often been the subject of memes. But lately, the slow-moving mammals have been proliferating in real life, far from their arboreal habitats. They can be fed, cuddled and photographed in animal parks, often despite unclear provenance and lax enforcement of rules.
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The number of exhibitors licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture nearly doubled from 2019 to 2021, with more than 1,000 sloths inspected annually over the past two years.
The encounters often end up on social media. That normalizes cuddling with animals, but research shows that portraying interactions can mislead the public into thinking the animals might be pets or questioning whether they are actually endangered.
One company that has attracted the attention of animal advocates is SeaQuest, a chain of interactive aquariums. It has seven locations in the United States, most of which feature sloths. And for an additional fee, visitors can touch flying squirrels, snorkel with stingrays or frolic with wallabies.
In a video interview, Vince Covino, who founded SeaQuest in Boise, Idaho, in 2015, said the animals he exhibits enjoy human contact and that the traditional “look, don’t touch” model was outdated.
But sloths “can break bones with their teeth,” said Sam Trull, director of the Sloth Institute, a sanctuary in Costa Rica. “The only way to even have a chance of them not being aggressive toward people is to take them away from their mothers at a very young age.”
SeaQuest, a for-profit company, is not accredited by any zoo organization. It has run afoul of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which governs only some of its wildlife. Last summer, a four-year-old SeaQuest in Trumbull, Connecticut, closed after receiving several notices, including one after a sugar glider bit a child. Another in Colorado closed this year after numerous state and federal notices. The company has sparked protests from former employees and groups such as PETA, which filed complaints alleging what they called cruelty, neglect and exploitation.
According to state records, nearly 100 animals, including two sloths, died at a location in Woodbridge, New Jersey, between 2019 and 2023. Last month, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection sent the company a 32-page notice of violations, listing dozens of animals that were sick, injured or abused. Officials said it must immediately change its practices or risk having its permits revoked.
Asked for comment, a SeaQuest spokeswoman pointed to the company’s website. In response to an earlier ABC News investigation, she posted: “Between 2021 and 2022, SeaQuest Woodbridge acquired hundreds of rescued animals, many of which were in very poor health.”
Two sloths have also died at SeaQuest in Las Vegas. Like all the others, it is in an indoor shopping mall, where natural light, humidity and vegetation — the environment in which many animals thrive — are scarce. Covino said the animals were still happier there than in the wild because the temperature is controlled, they are fed on a schedule and they are free of environmental hazards. Covino has no formal training in animal husbandry, biology or zoology; he was a stockbroker who left the field after his license was suspended. His brother, Ammon Covino, was convicted in 2013 of animal trafficking.
Animal ethicists maintain that there is no way for undomesticated creatures to communicate consent to being touched.
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