🦥 International Sloth Day: Where to find a sloth near you

International Sloth Day is coming up this Thursday, and to celebrate, News 6 has gathered a list of places in Central Florida where you can go to 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 an opportunity to “explore the wild side of Florida.”

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

The Sloth Encounter lets guests hang out with a two-toed sloth, and the VIP Sloth Experience even gives guests a chance to hold onto one in Wild Florida’s South American exhibit.

Wild Florida will also be hosting Sloth Days from Oct. 20 - 22, which will celebrate the might sloth in all its glory, including $5 off a Sloth Encounter, free corn on the cob at Chomp House Grill and surprise sloth pop-ups throughout Gator Park.

For Insiders, News 6 is also hosting a contest through Oct. 23 with a chance to win two free tickets for a Sloth Encounter.

ROMELIA FARMS

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

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

Along with a 45-minute guided petting zoo tour, Roselia Farms affords guests an opportunity to enter the sloth enclosure to feed and touch one of the preserve’s sloths.

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

CHASE SANCTUARY

Chase Animal Rescue and Sanctuary, a nonprofit rescue at Southeast 122nd Boulevard in Webster, works with an assortment of primates, providing environments for the animals to forage and play.

The rescue hosts regular events, such as yoga and painting with lemurs. However, it also features a much more relaxed experience: Sloth Meditation.

Visitors will be guided through the meditation as sloths sleep above them or slowly move around, and all proceeds go toward caring for the approximately 160 animals at the sanctuary.

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 its name might suggest, features many different exotic animals, including lemurs, kangaroos, kinkajou, a spider monkey and — of course — sloths.

The interactive zoo hosts three Guyanese sloths and a two-toed sloth named Nugget.

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

“At the time, I did have kangaroos as pets. (With) proper permitting, it is legal here in Florida,” she said. “So as an idea to save my ranch, I decided to add a couple of smaller animals and exotic animals.”

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

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