Feds issue ‘Official Warning’ to Sloth Encounters

As Sloth Encounters‘ owner Larry Wallach’s USDA exhibitor license nears its expiration date on June 14th, 2024, the USDA has just released an ‘Official Warning‘ to Sloth Encounters‘ owner Larry Wallach, warning him that “if APHIS obtains evidence of any future violation of these federal regulations, APHIS may pursue civil penalties, criminal prosecution, or other sanctions for this alleged violation(s) and for any future violation(s).

This ‘official warning‘ is an escalation of enforcement actions following Wallach being cited for critical violations of the Animal Welfare Act earlier this year when officials documented him improperly handling sloths during public interactions resulting in injuries and confining incompatible animals to a single enclosure risking “injury or death of the animals” following a Humane Society of the United States undercover investigation that captured disturbing footage of staff hitting sloths, stressed sloths kept in crowded conditions, sloths fighting with one another and a wounded sloth struggling when Wallach roughly grabbed his head and neck.