Where to find a sloth near you

International Sloth Day is approaching this Thursday, and to celebrate, News 6 has rounded up a list of places in Central Florida where you can go see these slow-moving creatures.

WILD FLORIDA

Wild Florida, located at 3301 Lake Cypress Road in Kenansville, offers a variety of attractions to give Floridians the opportunity to “explore the wild side of Florida.”

In addition to airboat tours, a drive-in safari trail, and a walk-in aviary, Wild Florida offers several exhibits of exotic animals, including sloths!

The sloth meeting allows guests to hang out with a two-toed sloth, and the VIP Sloth Experience even offers guests a chance to keep one in Wild Florida’s South American exhibit.

Wild Florida will also host lazy days October 20-22, which will celebrate sloth in all its glory, including $5 off an encounter with the sloth, free corn on the cob at the Chomp House Grill, and surprise sloth pop-ups throughout Gator Park .

For insiders, News 6 is also running a giveaway until October 23 with a chance to win two free tickets to a lazy encounter.

ROMELIA FARMS

Romelia Farms, a 36-acre wildlife sanctuary at 165 Gator Drive in Merritt Island, is a great place to see sloths and rocket launches.

Located about 10 miles south of Kennedy Space Center, Roselia Farms is in a prime position to view NASA’s many launches. In September, the reserve reached out to sloth lovers and space fanatics with their Rockets, Sloths & Mimosas watch party for the Artemis I spaceflight.

In addition to a 45-minute guided tour of the Petting Zoo, Roselia Farms offers guests the opportunity to enter the sloth enclosure to feed and touch one of the reserve’s sloths.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the reserve’s website here.

HUNTING SANCTUARY

Chase Animal Rescue and Sanctuary, a nonprofit rescue organization located southeast of 122nd Boulevard in Webster, works with an assortment of primates, providing environments where the animals can feed and play.

The refuge regularly organizes events, such as yoga and painting with lemurs. However, it also offers a much more relaxed experience: lazy meditation.

Visitors will be guided through meditation as sloths sleep above them or move slowly, and all proceeds will go towards the care of the sanctuary’s approximately 160 animals.

For more information or to purchase a session, you can visit the sanctuary’s website here.

EXOTIC ANIMAL EXPERIENCE

Exotic Animal Experience in Orlando, as the name suggests, features many different exotic animals, including lemurs, kangaroos, kinkajou, a spider monkey, and of course, sloths.

The interactive zoo is home to three Guyanese sloths and a two-toed sloth named Nugget.

Owner Leslie Rush told News 6 in 2019 that she originally kept kangaroos as pets on her ranch, although she eventually opened it after the 2009 recession.

“At the time, I had kangaroos as pets. (With) the proper permissions, it’s legal here in Florida,” she said. “So as an idea to save my ranch, I decided to add some smaller animals and some exotic animals.”

Guests can meet the sloths as part of the zoo’s “Simply Sloth Experience,” which offers half an hour during which visitors can hold, pet and feed the fuzzy creatures.

For more information or to purchase a timeslot, visit the zoo’s website here.