SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan― The exploitation of sloths for the pet trade, tourist selfie industry and zoos will come under tighter restrictions in the future as protections against international commercial trade have been given to the Hoffmann’s two-toed and Linné’s two-toed sloth at the 20th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meeting.
Countries voted unanimously to give CITES Appendix II protections to these sloths, in recognition of the fact that their increasing illegal wild capture for international trade is impacting wild populations. Appendix II allows trade under special conditions and is for species which may become threatened with extinction unless trade is subject to strict regulation. It is estimated that 80–90% of trafficked sloths die in the process. Illegal national and international trade has increased over the past 10 years, with some subpopulations, especially in Central America, Colombia, Bolivia and Brazil, experiencing drastic declines.
The United States is one of the world’s largest importers of live sloths. Customs data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show that the U.S. imported at least 764 sloths for commercial purposes between 2016-2021, an average of 127 sloths captured from the wild each year and brought into the U.S. to feed the demand for captive sloths. Malaysia, India, Czech Republic and Guyana are also implicated in the trade. Prior to 2016, thousands of sloths were illegally captured from the wild in Colombia and smuggled to the U.S., Panama, Costa Rica and Italy. In 2023, Perú seized a shipment of 30 sloths destined for Dubai.
Exploitation of these slow moving, largely nocturnal mammals for tourist selfies is prolific. These staged “encounters” and photo opportunities see these shy creatures exposed to relentless handling; the lack of sleep alone for a species that naturally would sleep for 15 to 20 hours a day, puts individuals under considerable physical strain. In 2024 Humane World for Animals (formerly called the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International) released its shocking undercover investigation at a public sloth interaction facility in New York. The investigation captured disturbing footage of staff hitting sloths, stressed sloths kept in crowded conditions, sloths fighting with one another and a wounded sloth struggling when roughly grabbed by the head and neck. Humane World for Animals estimates that nearly 135 facilities in the U.S. offer close encounters with sloths.
Grettel Delgadillo, director of program and policy at Humane World for Animals Costa Rica, said: “It’s incredibly sad that due to their slow moving lifestyle, sloths are very easy for wildlife traffickers to capture from their forest home to sell into a life of captivity and miserable exploitation. Being forced to be constantly awake and handled by people for public interactions and tourist selfies is a stressful ordeal for these animals. Appendix II protections at CITES will provide for the first time ever some relief for sloths but their story is a sad example of just how destructive the pet trade and tourism industries can be for our wildlife.”
Other issues on the CITES agenda include proposals seeking to expand commercial trade in live elephants and their parts, reopening international commercial ivory markets; proposals to reopen commercial trade in stockpiles of white and black rhino horn from Namibia; and positive proposals to protect several species of gecko, sloth, rattlesnake and tarantula exploited for the pet trade.
Quick facts
- Proposal 11 was put forward by Brazil, Costa Rica and Panama.
- Two-toed sloths spend almost their entire lives hanging upside down from trees including while they sleep, eat and even give birth. They typically only climb down from the trees once a week to defecate.
- Sloths are considered the slowest moving animals on Earth, climbing only about 6 to 8 feet per minute, to conserve energy.
- CITES offers three levels of protection for species affected by international trade:
- Appendix I is for species threatened with extinction because of trade, and more or less prevents commercial international trade except in exceptional circumstances.
- Appendix II allows trade under special conditions and is for species which may become threatened with extinction unless trade is subject to strict regulation. Appendix II controls include permit requirements and a science-based determination that the export will not negatively affect a species’ long-term survival in the wild (called a non-detriment finding).
- Appendix III is for species protected in at least one country, which has requested help from other CITES Parties to control trade in those species.
ENDS