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Name This Animal

New turtle visitor

20 years ago

Holy smokes, I was out cuttin' the grass today and moving an old tree stump and lo and behold, there was a hole underneath and this lil' guy was under there. I put him on a white background to get his pic taken and then let him go back to his hole. His shell measures 10" by 7". What a neat lil' guy.

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Comments (3)

plf333
20 years ago
Some sort of tortoise, gopher tortoise? Just guessing because of his hole in the ground. Sweet!
Sharon McKenzie
20 years ago
I was actually threatened with arrest in Florida for moving one of these, a really BIG Gopher Tortoise, out of the road. This was not a busy road, so the "cause" was NOT impeding traffic or anything like that, but "harrassing an Endangered Species". Yes, they can actually arrest you just for picking up one of these guys in the state of Florida, even though I made it clear that I did not intend to keep this 25-lb. chelonian; I just didn't want it to be hit by a car. I'd already seen a couple of them DOR on the way down. I did convince the officer that my moving the animal off the road was unlikely to have a negative impact on the status of the species, whereas losing a prime breeding candidate such as that particular individual would be detrimental to the survival of the species.

Sharon McKenzie
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There are a few categories: Endangered, Threatened, Protected, etc. I believe since 1988, the Gopher Tortoise in Florida has been considered a Species of Special Concern by the FWC. Tell Barney Fife to read the manual. LOL.

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