All Roatan Sloth & Monkey Encounters Halted

[Atricks]

Just a heads up for anyone going to Roatan in the near future, all the sloth, monkey, parrot & animal holding excursions are no longer allowed.  (As of March 1st)

The animal parks and sanctuaries on the island who are properly licensed to have these animals will be able to keep them. However, visitors will not be able to hold or handle the wildlife, such as the sloths. Island guests will be able to still observe the wildlife and also take a Sloth Selfie, but no longer hold the animals.  I'd assume more particulars will be known over the future.

 

 

[billdauterive]

I'm not saying it's not true, but the letter is dated Jan 24th (not March 1st) and I can't find any additional information about this anywhere.  I'll be in Roatan in a few weeks and have an excursion involving sloths and monkeys booked so I'll report back with my personal experience then.

[Leroyr55]

found this article verifying the restrictions. 
https://www.cruisehive.com/ban-on-wildlife-interactions-begins-at-popular-caribbean-cruise-destination/163791

[smokeybandit]

That doesn't really verify, but repeat 

[Matt]

I agree, I'm not saying it's not true, but it's not enough of a smoking gun to report on my own.

[PhillyLady]

I'm in Roatán next month as well, and all those tours were for sale on my cruise, but I would not book one at all. I am an animal lover with lots of pets, and I know that wild animals (non-domesticated) can often be unpredictable and carry diseases. That is why I do not swim with the stingrays or the pigs, and husband does not scuba dive with the sharks. By the way, once when I was at CocoCay after a rainstorm I saw small sharks swimming right up to the beach. They are as fast and as slippery as eels! The rainstorm cooled off the water and they felt comfortable moving closer. Yes, I got out of the water ASAP. I am glad they have the giant pool there now. 

P.S. I actually did swim once with the dolphins, but I would probably not do it again. Dolphins belong in pods out in the ocean. 

P.S.S. People can potentially give the animals diseases as well, -for an example, when zoo animals caught covid from the zookeepers. 

[OCSC Mike]

12 minutes ago, PhillyLady said:

By the way, once when I was at CocoCay after a rainstorm I saw small sharks swimming right up to the beach.

They're actually not uncommon there. My wife has seen both a lemon shark and a nurse shark there when she used to snorkel.

[smokeybandit]

I've seen lemon sharks at Coco Cay swim right by my legs. They're totally harmless.

[GatorCruiser]

Did the monkeys, sloths excursion in Roatan. No diseases contracted. Swam multiple times at cocoa cay,  no disease contracted. Now, pools onboard scare me 

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, GatorCruiser said:

Now, pools onboard scare me

Never once swam in one of those... no plans to start.

[GatorCruiser]

Just now, OCSC Mike said:

Never once swam in one of those... no plans to start.

Waterslides are the most I’ll do. #kids

[OCSC Mike]

16 hours ago, GatorCruiser said:

Waterslides are the most I’ll do. #kids

Understandable. I'm not much of a germophobe tbh but the crowded human-soup aspect of the pool deck pools just holds zero appeal. We barely use our own pool.

I do hop in the Oasis pool on PDCC to cool off but, even when crowded, it's large enough that it doesn't feel like I'm shoulder to shoulder with others.

[InmyElement]

We did the monkeys, sloths, and iguanas in Jan. and its was great for my son..he loves that stuff..no way for me. I'm just the recorder of memories..

23 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Understandable. I'm not much of a germophobe tbh but the crowded human-soup aspect of the pool deck pools just holds zero appeal. We barely use our own pool.

I do hop in the Oasis pool on PDCC to cool off but, even when crowded, is large enough that it doesn't feel like I'm shoulder to shoulder with others.

I agree..the Hideaway heated pool is like pee soup...you don't see anyone going to the restroom w/ all that drinking!! I cringe when I see someone put their head under..haha

[OCSC Mike]

8 minutes ago, InmyElement said:

We did the monkeys, sloths, and iguanas in Jan. and its was great for my son..he loves that stuff..no way for me. I'm just the recorder of memories.

Hah, we did it last June. I don't feel like re-posting it but I have a great pic of a monkey trying to nibble on my head, lol.

[WAAAYTOOO]

7 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Hah, we did it last June. I don't feel like re-posting it but I have a great pic of a monkey trying to nibble on my head, lol.

I remember that picture !

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I remember that picture !

My wife sent her mom some of the pics from that cruise and she actually chose that one to print and display in her house, lol.

[Matt]

On 3/8/2025 at 2:43 PM, smokeybandit said:

They're totally harmless.

That's what they want you to think...

[smokeybandit]

37 minutes ago, Matt said:

That's what they want you to think...

[billdauterive]

@Matt looks like it is official, at least at Victor Bodden.

[tjcruisers]

We docked at Roataan a few days ago and had that excursion booked. Definitely correct, couldn’t hold the sloths but we’re able to be near them. Before going on the tour, the tour company made sure we were aware and made us sign off that that they told us

[Doug_Texas]

https://discoverroatan.net/ban-on-roatan-wildlife-interactions/

[KatieElmer]

We go to Gumbalima Park when in Roatan. So far we have gone 3 times and love it! They have monkies as part of their tours and I it looks like they still have bookings up an d running. 

[Rackham]

5 hours ago, KatieElmer said:

We go to Gumbalima Park when in Roatan. So far we have gone 3 times and love it! They have monkies as part of their tours and I it looks like they still have bookings up an d running. 

 

They do, but their animal encounter page is MIA. Probably reworking their programming to align with these directives. 

Their website: https://gumbalimbapark.com/

[KatieElmer]

1 hour ago, Rackham said:

 

They do, but their animal encounter page is MIA. Probably reworking their programming to align with these directives. 

Their website: https://gumbalimbapark.com/

Well that sucks. Hope they can get a license. The animals are always healthy and happy when we go.

[ScottD]

14 minutes ago, KatieElmer said:

Well that sucks. Hope they can get a license. The animals are always healthy and happy when we go.

We went there once... the monkeys and birds seemed fine, but when we held the sloth, we felt terrible afterwards and vowed not to do it anymore... he just seemed unhealthy, being passed around, It may have been fine but something about it just made us feel bad.  

[KatieElmer]

1 hour ago, ScottD said:

We went there once... the monkeys and birds seemed fine, but when we held the sloth, we felt terrible afterwards and vowed not to do it anymore... he just seemed unhealthy, being passed around, It may have been fine but something about it just made us feel bad.  

I never saw spots there. Just the parrots/monkies along with the bug museum, island history museum, botanical tour, pool and beach. 

[ScottD]

2 hours ago, KatieElmer said:

I never saw spots there. Just the parrots/monkies along with the bug museum, island history museum, botanical tour, pool and beach. 

You're right...I got the place wrong, we went to Manawkie Eco Park

[Shari]

We have friends who were in Roatan on the 15th of March and posted pictures of themselves with monkeys and sloths.  So Roatan was allowing this on Saturday.  They are on Jewel of the Seas.

[SpeedNoodles]

As a retired zoo keeper, I've always advocated for people to not take part in holding animals on excursions, especially wild animals.  It absolutely does stress them, even if the average people can't see it.    I'm hoping it does become a thing of the past.

[Carlos A.]

18 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

As a retired zoo keeper, I've always advocated for people to not take part in holding animals on excursions, especially wild animals.  It absolutely does stress them, even if the average people can't see it.    I'm hoping it does become a thing of the past.

This, they are there to be seen, not to play with them like they were objects.

[Swolfg]

While this letter is actually real, the government has yet to cease allowing businesses' customers to hold the sloths, monkeys, etc. I have looked into it, and it has yet to be enforced. It appears the government and local businesses are still allowing it. The hope is something can be worked out with the well being, safe handling of all the animals and proper care that will be acceptable to allow it to continue. This is something that I was blessed to experience with my husband and grandchildren in February in Roatan, and we loved it. I truly hope they can come to an acceptable agreement. It was amazing.

[Va4fam]

We received similar letter from Daniel Johnson this week.   No more holding/touching animals.

[TXcruzer]

On 3/31/2025 at 8:11 PM, Swolfg said:

While this letter is actually real, the government has yet to cease allowing businesses' customers to hold the sloths, monkeys, etc. I have looked into it, and it has yet to be enforced. It appears the government and local businesses are still allowing it. The hope is something can be worked out with the well being, safe handling of all the animals and proper care that will be acceptable to allow it to continue. This is something that I was blessed to experience with my husband and grandchildren in February in Roatan, and we loved it. I truly hope they can come to an acceptable agreement. It was amazing.

Yet everyone that has been there in the last 3 weeks or so say it absolutely IS being enforced.

[Pinki Pink]

I was there on April 1st and did AJ’s Sloth Monkey Santuary. No more hugging the sloths. They told us there was 1 case of sloth fever in the US so for safety the government stopped allowing holding them.  They allowed us to put our hands under the sloths while they held onto trees (I guess to look like we were holding them) Also they told us if you book through the cruise line you can no longer can hold the monkeys either. However since we booked through shore excursions group and had Christopher tours we were allowed to still go in the monkey pen as they jumped on us from every angle. They even let my boyfriend feed a monkey some of his Gatorade the monkey was trying to open.  We had a great time!

[tonyfsu21]

Amen. They need to put an end to this crap. I get it, the animals are cool but the whole hold an animal for profit thing (under the guise of a “sanctuary”) is not ok. I’m no zookeeper or animal rights activist but I know it’s wrong. Pick up a pina colada.