Officials investigating gopher tortoise deaths in St. Petersburg

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating after a third of the gopher tortoise population has died at the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg. The city first alerted state wildlife officials after finding nearly 60 tortoise carcasses over the last six weeks at the preserve. People walk the trial and enjoy the wildlife in the preserve.

[@leftylou6070]

There were 1000's of gopher turtles around when I was a kid. She finally said it at the end of the broadcast about people moving in on their territory. What a shame.

[@xx_Joker_xx]

I have several, around 10, gopher turtles living on my property here in south Georgia. They often invade my garden and eat all my melons and cucumbers. But I don't mind at all. They are welcome. Some on my property are very old, 90+ years old, and some have been hatched in the past 5 years. I have rescued them from the road and other dangerous areas. I guess I have deemed myself as their guardian. LOL! I have a lot of wild life that hang out on my property for the same reasons. Fox, rabbits and deer even. They are safe and not harassed. They do their thing freely.
You are correct that their territory is being taken away. They dig big deep boroughs and a lot of people do not like that in their yards. I don't really mind to be honest. I'm not here to have a pristine yard. I have the luxury of nature... and no money can buy that.
Note: I also do not use pesticides or poisons either. And I plant enough so that they can have most of what I grow.

[@eprofessio]

Pesticide and rodenticide from the country club golf course?

[@jimfreyler2944]

They are pretty resilient. Usually the only problem is upper respiratory infections which are highly contagious in groups of tortoises. That's easy to diagnose and if it were that they would know quickly. Looks like a new problem, perhaps a toxin?

[@MaullerTwin]

These tortoises are great. I rescued one from my autistic cousin and they live in my backyard. I made them a dark cave/burrow of sorts and they stay there and come out to eat grass every other day. I also have a yellow footed tortoise and he follows the gopher around all the time and they even eat together. Such interesting animals.

[@jwmoulton99]

STOP LOCOAL BURNING IN OUR FORESTS!