Jeffrey Jeffries
New Member
Florida Wildlife Commission responded today to several reports of what appeared to be a threatened and protected Florida Gopher tortoise, freshly caught, being sold.
This read on Craigslist, out of Ft. Meyers:
Tortoise $250
Tortoise Great for kids !
Does not bite
***Cant swim***
Extremely friendly
will deliver
I know there is a tortoise or two that can appear similar, but he doesn't state the species.
As you can see the animal is in a car on the floorboard, a couple droplets of human sweat landing on him, fresh burrow sand still falling from him/her.
Some might think, "Why not call the guy and give him a heads up" but I'm glad none of us did, nor flagged or removed the ad before FWC investigated (possibly to meet up under buying pretense).
For better or for worse, I know they are usually pretty light on folks they truly feel were ignorant.
And this way he doesn't just panic and chuck the animal somewhere crummy, rather, hopefully it's relocated by FWC.
I knew of a truly hungry father and son who tried to come to FL and get established with jobs, camping instead of Salvation Army house etc, and they were formally from a place teeming with legally edible softshell turtles.They knew no better and offered an officer a piece of gopher tortoise roasted on a stick. It got dropped in court as a lesson; this was around 1991.
So...I prayed for this guy in case he had unfortunate reasons for needing the money, but so often we know it's just opportunism for a happy bonus buck, gone in an instant with permanent consequences for the environment and threatened species and specimen.
This read on Craigslist, out of Ft. Meyers:
Tortoise $250
Tortoise Great for kids !
Does not bite
***Cant swim***
Extremely friendly
will deliver
I know there is a tortoise or two that can appear similar, but he doesn't state the species.
As you can see the animal is in a car on the floorboard, a couple droplets of human sweat landing on him, fresh burrow sand still falling from him/her.
Some might think, "Why not call the guy and give him a heads up" but I'm glad none of us did, nor flagged or removed the ad before FWC investigated (possibly to meet up under buying pretense).
For better or for worse, I know they are usually pretty light on folks they truly feel were ignorant.
And this way he doesn't just panic and chuck the animal somewhere crummy, rather, hopefully it's relocated by FWC.
I knew of a truly hungry father and son who tried to come to FL and get established with jobs, camping instead of Salvation Army house etc, and they were formally from a place teeming with legally edible softshell turtles.They knew no better and offered an officer a piece of gopher tortoise roasted on a stick. It got dropped in court as a lesson; this was around 1991.
So...I prayed for this guy in case he had unfortunate reasons for needing the money, but so often we know it's just opportunism for a happy bonus buck, gone in an instant with permanent consequences for the environment and threatened species and specimen.
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