Giant stuffed sloth moves out of a tree near I-5 after distracting drivers
Mar 19, 2025, 1:49 PM | Updated: Mar 20, 2025, 9:44 am
Stuffed sloth is now out of a tree. (Washington Dept. of Transportation)
(Washington Dept. of Transportation)
He was hard to miss if you were driving to Bellingham. A giant stuffed sloth lived in a tree off Interstate 5 (I-5) near Lake Samish. He is called “Slothy.” The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) does not know who put him there.
“Slothy reminds us that it’s crucial to slow down in work zones and in life,” WSDOT said in an online post. “But otherwise, let’s keep our 8-foot stuffed animals in their proper habitats: on a bed made for giants, not near our right of way. Leave the tree-dwelling to real sloths and keep your eyes on the road ahead.”
The trouble was that sloths are not native to the Pacific Northwest. Somehow, Slothy was still able to make it almost a year in the 90-foot tree. It took a 125-foot bucket truck to get him out of the tree.
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Sloth more of a distraction
WSDOT said Slothy may have become more of a distraction than a help.
“We’ve heard that drivers were slowing down to get a closer look or becoming distracted while trying to snap a picture,” WSDOT posted on Facebook.
With the sloth removal, WSDOT also reminded drivers that “trees are not for toys. Roadways are not zoos, and our highways are not native habit[ats] for sloths.”
It’s not clear how the legend of Slothy began, but its almost certain that many drivers will miss him on the way to the Canadian border.
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