Tortoise shells found in Leesburg (Fla) | Orlando Sentinel

[Ediacara]

Tortoise shells found in Leesburg

By Sherri M. Owens | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted February 9, 2004, 11:43 AM EST



Shells found. (FLORIDA FISH &
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION)
Feb 9, 2004

LEESBURG -- Investigators are trying to find out who killed more than 100 gopher tortoises, apparently to eat them, and then dumped the shells in woods near Thomas Road.

More (but not much more) at the Orlando Sentinel

[JailForBush]

1. Reminds me of FuneralGate N/T

[radwriter0555]

2. Well they do look rather old, but still... I have a giant tortoise, Boomer

who is eating ME out of house and home. Can't imagine making soup out of the beast.

He weighs about 35 lbs... he comes when he's called.

[blindpig]

11. hey radwriter, what species?

I'm a turtle guy myself, 47 head current count, mostly captive bred. And a bunch of other herps.

[Piperay]

13. I have two tortoises myself

they are CA Desert Tortoises, the sweetest things imaginable, p*sses me off that anyone could do that. :grr: :mad: :nuke:

[blindpig]

14. hey, Piperay

tortoises are extremely cool, don't keep any myself because the southeast is not friendly to most (too humid) but have a bunch of aquatics & gulf coast box.
Do you not get tired of the repub/reptile metaphors around here?

[The Stranger]

3. Angering.

Such laws are less than a slap on the wrist and never enforced.

[chookie]

4. I am sick about this

Gopher tortoises are endangered.

They are the sweetest most adorable tortoises you can imagine.

This is just sadistic redneck stunt, showing off with their precious gun. There's no reason in the world to slaughter all these poor animals.

Not sure how old these are -- at least a year -- they deteriorate rather quickly outdoors in FL climate.

This is pure evil.

[slappypan]

5. Are people that hungry in Florida?

Do they have to resort to eating the wildlife?

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. Yes, plus a lot of poor rural people

eat anything and everything that is available. It is/was part of their way of life around here. It used to be that there was plenty of wildlife around to eat pretty well. Now they are killing 'endangered' species and eating mercury filled fish. So it goes...

[The Stranger]

16. I tried very hard for several hours to believe it was done out of hunger,

but food isn't that expensive (food isn't expensive at all) nor hard to find in Florida, and it isn't expensive anywherein the U.S. The time, premeditated and calculated effort and expense that it would take to track, kill and use illegal "gopher pullers" to kill these protected animals would not be done by someone who was hungry. Nor would it take 100 turtles to feed someone if they were starving.

This was not done by someone poor or hungry. This was poaching, plain and simple, and should be prosecuted as a crime, and the crimes for this should be given real teeth.

[nayt]

6. sucks

my dog has made snacks out of turtles before here on the west coast of central florida. i dunno if this is the same type. i stop him whenever i catch him, but they wander into the yard quite often...

[Ruby Romaine]

7. Cheney does love to hunt!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. Rest in peace, my friends...

There's a special place in hell for the asshole that did this. :cry:

[abracadabra]

9. STIFFER PENALTIES

is what we need!!

As Boosh slacks and eliminates all environmental protection for the sake of Corporate protection.

Give'm 10 - 20 years and they'll think twice before they do it (or at least they'll have to get sneakier)

Write your reps and let them know what you think!
Let them know that you know that they are the ones who make the laws in your state and you hold them accountable for looking the other way!!


By the way did anyone see that IDIOT sonof a Boosh on MTP yesterday AM?
He's not only stoopid but the dude is in-frikin sane!
all stutters and smirks--can't put 5-10 words together without a 5 min pause.

[blindpig]

10. great! something else to really piss me off

while eating gophers is a tradition in rural Florida it is absolutely no longer sustainable. Bad enough to kill the critter but do you know how they are gotten? Gophers dig serious burrows, up to 30' long and 12' deep. A garden hose is shoved down the hole as far as possible and a 1/2 cup of gasoline is poured down it. The fumes drive the tortoise our of the hole and kills all of the other critters down there which may include diamondback rattlesnakes, endangered indigo snakes and florida gopher frogs. I believe a total of 85 species have been recorded in gopher holes. Some folkways!

[clyrc]

15. Noooooo!

My husband and I have rescued several of these gopher tortoises from the roads in Florida. I hate it that someone is killing them like that!