A sloth was spotted dangling upside down inside a moving white minivan on a west suburban Illinois highway earlier this week. The animal wiggled from side to side as the vehicle traveled along Kirk Road in Batavia, a scene that quickly made its way onto social media and has since raised questions about how, exactly, a tropical rainforest dweller ended up riding shotgun in traffic.
Angellena Kalantzis said she spotted the sloth while driving to the gym and shared video of the encounter in a TikTok post on Tuesday, as reported by NBC 5 Chicago. Kalantzis said she and others were next to the minivan for about 10 minutes, trying to figure out whether what they were seeing was actually real. Kalantzis’s post caption asked, “How does one have a pet sloth in Illinois?”
It's a fair question, and the answer lies in a quirk of state law. Illinois law under 720 ILCS 5/48-10 explicitly bans private ownership of big cats, bears, wolves, hyenas, and non-human primates, but it never mentions sloths at all, according to the Animal Legal & Historical Center. That provision does not mention sloths, but that alone does not determine what other state rules or permit requirements may apply.
Kirk Road Sighting Highlights a Legal Gray Area
Just because the state doesn't ban sloth ownership doesn't mean cities can't. Local municipalities in Illinois retain the right to enforce stricter animal ordinances of their own, and within Batavia, public animal complaints and potential pet hazards are handled by the Batavia Police Department working alongside Kane County Animal Control, per the City of Batavia.
Kirk Road itself is a county highway in Batavia and Kane County, according to Kane County Government.
Why a Car Ride Can Be Risky for a Sloth
Beyond the legal gray zone, sloths have particular environmental needs. Two-toed sloths are heterothermic, meaning they can't efficiently regulate their own body temperature and need constant ambient warmth between 75 and 85 degrees along with high humidity between 60% and 80% to keep their digestive systems from shutting down, according to USDA Animal Care guidelines. The sloth was inside a moving minivan.
The video shows the sloth hanging upside down inside the moving minivan.
Not the First Exotic Animal Surprise in Illinois
An escaped pet lemur was rescued in Bloomington in January 2023.
As for the Batavia sloth, plenty remains unknown. The identity of the animal's owner was not immediately clear, and where the sloth was ultimately headed also wasn't established. For now, the video of a sloth swaying gently in a moving minivan on Kirk Road stands as one of the stranger commutes Batavia drivers have witnessed this week.
