Sloths and other exotic animals were confiscated from a home in Olympia Saturday.
Police say an anonymous tip led them to the house, which had South American tree sloths, an Asian monitor lizard and other reptiles and insects. A tree sloth can sell for $5,000 to $7,000.
None of the species can be owned or sold in Washington state without federal and state permits.
The business owners are licensed as a sloth rescue in Oregon, but could not produce any paperwork showing the animals could be owned in Washington.
"Research from the group's website based out of Oregon shows that they do meet-and-greets with them, and sometimes sleepovers. We were kind of concerned that they'd been breeding them as well as one of them did have a baby and one was pregnant," Courtney Mclees of Thurston County Animal Services said of the owners of the sloths.
The animals have been taken to a private sanctuary for now.
Check back with KIRO 7 on this developing story.
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