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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

 

Wildlife Officials Fight To Save ‘Entombed’ Tortoises

‘Wildlife officials in Florida are expected to announce Monday that they want to make it illegal for developers to entomb tortoises.

Recently, Local 6 reported how it is legal to bury tortoises alive as long as construction crews have the proper permit. [..]

“For a price tag of a quarter million dollars, the Expressway Authority legally began to pave over the only openings to the tortoises’ burrows — essentially burying them alive,” Diaz said.

“They are immobilized and can’t get out of their burrow,” a wildlife official said. “It can take up to a year to die one biologist has told us. It can take that long before they die of suffocation, dehydration or starvation.” [..]

“Just because you can bury alive gopher tortoises, doesn’t necessarily mean you should,” a commissioner told Local 6 News.’




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