Current mood:	embarrassed
Entry tags:	gopher, tortoise, turtle

Why does Florida allow Burying Gopher Tortoises Alive???
Fla. allows live tortoise burial by permit



LAKE PARK, Fla., Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The entombment of five live gopher tortoises underneath a Florida Wal-Mart has caused outrage.

The Palm Beach Post reports that as many as 74,000 tortoises have died the same way in the past 14 years under permits granted by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. But this time, the
Humane Society got a tip from a local resident and launched a nationwide e-mail alert.

Tortoises trapped when buildings go up over their holes starve to death or asphyxiate underground. Scientists believe that the current gopher tortoise population in Florida is about one-fifth of what it was a century ago, with the major reason for the decline habitat lost to developers. The problem is that the gophers prefer dry sandy areas for their holes, the same kind of habitat developers like.

(They Claim) Moving the tortoises is often not a good option. Even moving them to a different spot in the same tract can leave the tortoises isolated, unable to get together to breed.

"It's kind of a feel-good permit," Ricardo Zambrano, a biologist for the commission, said. "It has very little biological value for the tortoises."

So the commission charges heavily for tortoise burial and uses the money to preserve gopher tortoise habitat, 22,000 acres so far.