Family Sues South Carolina Animal Exhibit After Sloth Bites Young Child

A family trip to a South Carolina animal exhibit abruptly ended last year when one of the animals allegedly bit a young child. Now, the family is suing. According to Live 5 News, the Lowcountry family was visiting Charleston Sloth and Exotics, a private Charleston-area animal exhibit, in June 2020 when a sloth supposedly bit the child's finger to the bone.

The plaintiff, Candise Gore, claims that they weren't given instructions on how to interact with the animal nor were they told that they would bite. According to the lawsuit, "suddenly and without warning, the sloth bit the [child's] finger cutting through the skin and reaching the bone, causing immense pain and discomfort."

Henry and Heather Galvin, owners of the exhibit, admitted that the child was bitten "lightly" but were surprised by the lawsuit because of the "civil and nice" interaction they had with Gore. Heather Galvin said that all in attendance were given a detailed safety speech on how to handle and feed the sloth and they were warned about teeth.

"The child that was bitten was being held by the mother doing selfies," Galvin wrote in an email. "We told the mother three times (as heard on the recording) to move but we were ignored. The child was lightly bitten. We refunded them. Texted them for a week to check on them and offered to pay the doctor bills."

Live 5 News requested a copy of the recording mentioned by Galvin, but it hasn't been provided as of Friday (July 23).

Gore is seeking an undetermined amount of money in the lawsuit.