The plight of Florida’s gopher tortoise is largely in the hands of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Recently, they have “uplisted” the tortoise from Species of Special Concern, which allows killing tortoises as long as certain rules are followed, to Threatened status, which will more tightly limit killing tortoises during land development. The new management plan and rules are not likely to be completed until June, 2007, however.
Dr. Jennifer Hobgood of the Humane Society of the U.S., is participating in drafting the new management plan for the gopher tortoise. She says that the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is likely to honor all Incidental Take Permits issued under the current management plan, and may continue to issue Incidental Take Permits even under the new plan. Note that “incidental take” means “killing incidental to development.” It is not incidental to the tortoises, or to those concerned by the dramatic decline in gopher tortoise numbers incidental to our explosive growth.
Gopher tortoises are not alone. Turtles everywhere face the threat of extinction by habitat destruction and automobile predation. Humans are their problem in almost every case, as documented in Natalie Angier’s excellent article on the extinction crisis facing turtles, in today’s New York Times. The threats to turtles are global, yet protective actions in thousands of localities can help assure their survival.
Here in Indian River County, Florida, a concerned group of citizens has formed the Gopher Tortoise Coalition to protect and conserve our reptilian neighbors. Working together we are conducting our county’s first “emergency humane relocation” of tortoises, fully permitted by the FWC. Next, we need to address the Incidental Take issue through our county ordinances. Gopher tortoises will continue to be killed, and killed by entombment, for the foreseeable future, perhaps even under the new statewide management plan. We must prohibit take by entombment county by county if we are to stop state sanctioned animal cruelty and ensure tortoise survival.
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