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Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl 2019 featured a sloth and other wild animals, such as kangaroos and capybaras. Wild animals are easily stressed when used for entertainment, and displaying them as cute playthings inevitably promotes the private ownership of wild and exotic species, a cruel practice that both harms individual animals and contributes to wildlife trafficking—which is a major hindrance to conservation efforts.
Wild animals exploited in the pet trade endure miserable lives. Most are sold as infants by animal breeders and dealers who remove them from their mothers prematurely—a practice that's cruel to both the baby and the mother and denies the infants the maternal care and nurturing that they need for normal development.
Sadly, PETA is contacted frequently by people who acquired wild animals (such as sloths, monkeys, and exotic cats) on a whim and then realized that they don't have the knowledge or inclination to meet the extremely specialized needs of their new "pets." As the animals get older—and inevitably become aggressive and less manageable—the novelty quickly wanes. Many languish on a chain or inside cramped cages in backyards, basements, or garages. Others die as they're shuffled from one owner to the next. They can end up in roadside zoos, sold at auctions, or simply turned loose in the misguided belief that they can somehow fend for themselves.
Urge Animal Planet not to exploit wild animals in its annual Puppy Bowl again and to commit to leaving wild-animal "actors" out of all of the network's future events and promotions.