Gopher Tortoise : Friend, Not Food
The following article is a piece I wrote two years ago for the Clay Today. It was published on October 9th, 2014. I wrote it to bring awareness to the plight of the gopher tortoise. Today, I am a volunteer with a licensed wildlife rescue organization, and can attest that gopher tortoises still need all the help they can get. Please read and share...
In August 2014, the butchered remains of five gopher tortoises were discovered in Hawthorne, Florida, strewn in the grass just outside Little Orange Creek Nature Park. It is suspected these animals were taken for their meat, as there was evidence their shells had been sawed apart. Sadly, this was not an isolated crime. In the same month, Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission received a tip that a number of gopher tortoise shells had been dumped in a wooded location in Citrus County. The FWCC began an investigation which led to the arrest of a man who admitted to killing 15 tortoises for their meat and intentions to kill another 11, which the investigating officer was able to recover and release unharmed.
In September 2014, six live gopher tortoises were confiscated from a Florida man when his vehicle was stopped at a DUI checkpoint in Wing, Alabama. The man, who was arrested for driving under the influence, admitted his plan to bring the tortoises to his home in Ponce de Leon, Florida, and cook them for a family gathering. Fortunately, the tortoises were able to be released back into the wild, and the man was charged by Alabama officials with possessing a non-game species.
Killing a gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), which is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, is a federal offense. However, most people will not hear about these crimes, even though the slaughter of just one gopher tortoise this past July in Clay County made the national news. In that case, two teenage girls tortured a harmless juvenile gopher tortoise by dousing it in alcohol and lighting it on fire as it scrambled to escape the flames that engulfed it. Later, the girls posted the video of the torture, which included the eventual brutal death of the animal, to the social media site Facebook. The girls' classmates reported them to the authorities, and public outrage helped prompt authorities to arrest the perpetrators, who both now face multiple charges.
So why then was there no news coverage of the five butchered tortoises in Alachua County? The answer goes back hundreds of years. People have been killing gopher tortoises for their meat longer than the species has been protected by law. It is difficult to stop behavior that is culturally ingrained. It is hard to convince people who live in the last strongholds of this species what biologists know to be true. The hard truth is the population of these ancient animals is on the decline. Prior to the 1800's when Florida's logging industry really began to take off, most land that wasn't wetlands or prone to flooding was longleaf pine forest, the ideal habitat of the gopher tortoise. With burrows as deep as 20 feet and as long as 40 feet, the tortoises created homes safe from the wildfires that regularly ravaged the land before the state was heavily settled.
These burrows also protected the tortoises from cold weather, but other animals found shelter in them as well. More than 250 species of wildlife rely on the tortoise burrows for shelter. Frogs, toads, insects, mice, skunks, rabbits, burrowing owls, and foxes are just some of the many animals that depend on this keystone species. Eastern pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus mugitus) and Eastern indigo snakes (Drymarchon couperi), which are also suffering declining numbers and are protected by Florida law, utilize the tortoise burrows, as do Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus), a species currently being considered for the endangered species list.
As Florida's landscape has been cleared and humans have moved in, many species have suffered, but it can easily be argued that the gopher tortoise is the most important species of all, because so many other animals depend on it. When such an important species is grappling with habitat loss and road mortality, predation by humans is a needless threat that could prove the last nail in the coffin of this iconic animal. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the minimum requirements of a viable population (one that can sustain itself), are 250 adults and roughly 250 acres of appropriate habitat. An adult tortoise, which is typically at least 15 years of age before it can be considered breeding size, must avoid vehicles while crossing roads to access available habitat, and then find an equally lucky mate before the pair can produce eggs. To lower the odds of their successful reproduction, scavenging predators such as raccoons and coyotes will unearth and eat most egg clutches. Truly, the gopher tortoise needs all the help it can get.
So what is the answer? Indeed, land conservation is key, because as the habitat disappears, so will the animals that depend on it. In the southeastern United States, the original longleaf pine forests have been reduced by 97 per cent since America's timber industry began. The preservation of the remaining healthy wilderness is critical to the future survival of native plants and animals. That is why conservationists have fought so hard to protect lands such as Little Orange Creek Nature Park, which currently encompasses approximately 2,400 acres. Laws that help protect endangered species are also a needed step in the right direction, but education must go hand-in-hand with conservation efforts, regardless of what laws may be in place.
Michael Stallings, who volunteers seven days a week at Little Orange Creek, is committed to educating the public about the importance of the gopher tortoises, as well as all the other native plants and animals that have found refuge here. While Stallings admits it was discouraging to find the tortoise shells, he says he will continue to invite groups to the park to learn about nature and the importance of protecting it, particularly children's groups.
If the tortoises and the animals that share their burrows disappear from the landscape, the woods will become a quieter place - a shadow of their former robust wilderness. Is that the legacy we want to leave? Is that the Florida we want to pass down to the next generation?
To report a wildlife crime to the Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, call 1-888-404-FWCC (3922), or email tip@myfwc.com.
Gopher Tortoise: Friend, Not Food
In August 2014, the butchered remains of five gopher tortoises were discovered in Hawthorne, Florida, strewn in the grass just outside Little Orange Creek Nature Park. It is suspected these animals were taken for their meat, as there was evidence their shells had been sawed apart. Sadly, this was not an isolated crime. In the same month, Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission received a tip that a number of gopher tortoise shells had been dumped in a wooded location in Citrus County. The FWCC began an investigation which led to the arrest of a man who admitted to killing 15 tortoises for their meat and intentions to kill another 11, which the investigating officer was able to recover and release unharmed.
In September 2014, six live gopher tortoises were confiscated from a Florida man when his vehicle was stopped at a DUI checkpoint in Wing, Alabama. The man, who was arrested for driving under the influence, admitted his plan to bring the tortoises to his home in Ponce de Leon, Florida, and cook them for a family gathering. Fortunately, the tortoises were able to be released back into the wild, and the man was charged by Alabama officials with possessing a non-game species.
Killing a gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), which is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, is a federal offense. However, most people will not hear about these crimes, even though the slaughter of just one gopher tortoise this past July in Clay County made the national news. In that case, two teenage girls tortured a harmless juvenile gopher tortoise by dousing it in alcohol and lighting it on fire as it scrambled to escape the flames that engulfed it. Later, the girls posted the video of the torture, which included the eventual brutal death of the animal, to the social media site Facebook. The girls' classmates reported them to the authorities, and public outrage helped prompt authorities to arrest the perpetrators, who both now face multiple charges.
So why then was there no news coverage of the five butchered tortoises in Alachua County? The answer goes back hundreds of years. People have been killing gopher tortoises for their meat longer than the species has been protected by law. It is difficult to stop behavior that is culturally ingrained. It is hard to convince people who live in the last strongholds of this species what biologists know to be true. The hard truth is the population of these ancient animals is on the decline. Prior to the 1800's when Florida's logging industry really began to take off, most land that wasn't wetlands or prone to flooding was longleaf pine forest, the ideal habitat of the gopher tortoise. With burrows as deep as 20 feet and as long as 40 feet, the tortoises created homes safe from the wildfires that regularly ravaged the land before the state was heavily settled.
These burrows also protected the tortoises from cold weather, but other animals found shelter in them as well. More than 250 species of wildlife rely on the tortoise burrows for shelter. Frogs, toads, insects, mice, skunks, rabbits, burrowing owls, and foxes are just some of the many animals that depend on this keystone species. Eastern pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus mugitus) and Eastern indigo snakes (Drymarchon couperi), which are also suffering declining numbers and are protected by Florida law, utilize the tortoise burrows, as do Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus), a species currently being considered for the endangered species list.
As Florida's landscape has been cleared and humans have moved in, many species have suffered, but it can easily be argued that the gopher tortoise is the most important species of all, because so many other animals depend on it. When such an important species is grappling with habitat loss and road mortality, predation by humans is a needless threat that could prove the last nail in the coffin of this iconic animal. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the minimum requirements of a viable population (one that can sustain itself), are 250 adults and roughly 250 acres of appropriate habitat. An adult tortoise, which is typically at least 15 years of age before it can be considered breeding size, must avoid vehicles while crossing roads to access available habitat, and then find an equally lucky mate before the pair can produce eggs. To lower the odds of their successful reproduction, scavenging predators such as raccoons and coyotes will unearth and eat most egg clutches. Truly, the gopher tortoise needs all the help it can get.
So what is the answer? Indeed, land conservation is key, because as the habitat disappears, so will the animals that depend on it. In the southeastern United States, the original longleaf pine forests have been reduced by 97 per cent since America's timber industry began. The preservation of the remaining healthy wilderness is critical to the future survival of native plants and animals. That is why conservationists have fought so hard to protect lands such as Little Orange Creek Nature Park, which currently encompasses approximately 2,400 acres. Laws that help protect endangered species are also a needed step in the right direction, but education must go hand-in-hand with conservation efforts, regardless of what laws may be in place.
Michael Stallings, who volunteers seven days a week at Little Orange Creek, is committed to educating the public about the importance of the gopher tortoises, as well as all the other native plants and animals that have found refuge here. While Stallings admits it was discouraging to find the tortoise shells, he says he will continue to invite groups to the park to learn about nature and the importance of protecting it, particularly children's groups.
If the tortoises and the animals that share their burrows disappear from the landscape, the woods will become a quieter place - a shadow of their former robust wilderness. Is that the legacy we want to leave? Is that the Florida we want to pass down to the next generation?
To report a wildlife crime to the Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, call 1-888-404-FWCC (3922), or email tip@myfwc.com.
Well written and thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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