Molly Duerig
Environment ReporterMolly is an award-winning reporter with a background in video production and investigative journalism, focused on covering environmental issues for Central Florida Public Media. Previously, Molly was an investigative reporter for Spectrum News 13, where she spent 3 years reporting in-depth and daily TV news stories, including continuing coverage of an amusement ride tragedy in Orlando that earned a first-place Sunshine State award from the Society of Professional Journalists' Florida chapter. Molly speaks Spanish, loves to travel and is grateful to have had the chance to report stories from places as distinct as Nebraska, Peru and Puerto Rico. She has a master's degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
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Every part of Florida has been in some level of drought for the last three months, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. -
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Wednesday issued a temporary ban on importing sloths into the state, following public outcry that arose over dozens of animal deaths connected to Sloth World, a now-canceled attraction previously planned in Orlando. The temporary ban expires on July 10. -
New data show “meaningful progress” in seagrass growth, according to the St. Johns River Water Management District. -
If enacted, the bill would override Florida’s current law requiring counties to agree to house people detained on a federal immigration hold. -
Sloth World’s owners were legally permitted by the state to possess captive wildlife. But permit holders aren’t required to report animal illness or death to the state. Lawmakers want to see that changed. -
More than 30 sloths imported for an exhibit in Florida have died. State officials are now investigating what went wrong as a zoo tries to keep about a dozen sloths alive.
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Dozens of sloths were captured from the wild and shipped to Florida for the now-canceled attraction. At least 34 of those sloths are now dead. -
The zoo’s veterinary team is keeping an extra-close eye on two of the remaining eleven animals recently transferred from a Sloth World warehouse in Orlando. -
No law required Sloth World operators to report animal deaths to the state, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. -
The 1960s-era interchange is one of the state highway system’s oldest, Gov. Ron DeSantis said. -
On the day Bandit the sloth died, State Rep. Anna Eskamani sent a formal request, asking the Florida attorney general to open a criminal investigation -
The zoo has decades of experience raising sloths and will give the animals “the best chance to survive,” according to zoo leadership.
