PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Alligator Attraction in John's Pass attracts a lot of visitors to interact with a variety of repitles, but a new effort to attract attention and raise money for a pair of sloths has attracted criticism. 

• Petition causes Alligator Attraction to cancel sloth yoga classes
• Sloth yoga class started to raise funds, awareness of sloths
• Participants allowed to feed, pet sloths for short time
• Animal activists upset over interaction with sloths in class

"We are a wildlife learning center," said Sonny Flynn, Managing Partner of Alligator Attraction. "We have alligators, crocodiles, tortoises, turtles, lizards, frogs, and small mammals. Ninety-five percent of our animals are pet surrenders or rescues."

Among those surrendered are two rescued young sloths, names Sid and Sylvia, that someone tried to keep as pets. In an effort to offset the thousands of dollars in bills needed to keep them healthy, the organization tried something unique.

"Sloth Yoga was my staff thinking outside the box," Flynn said. "What can we do to create some kind of revenue that will help us take care of vet bills?"

For $40 a person, people can take the class while one of the sloths literally "hang out" in the corner.

The class has attractred a lot of people, but they're also attracting a lot of criticism from animal rights activists, including tens of thousands of people who signed an online petition claiming, "... participants are encouraged to touch the sloths, feed them, and get close enough to shove phones in their faces and take 'slothies' (sloth selfies)."

Flynn says that's not true.

"At the end of the yoga class, if the sloth decides he wants to be touched, then and only then, will we allow them to hand him a piece of romaine lettuce and pet them," Flynn said. "And it's not for a very long period of time, like one pet and you're done."

Nonetheless, Alligator Attraction is ending the sloth yoga classes at the end of this month in hopes of keeping the peace.