I was enjoying a rather peaceful 17 mile bicycle cruise yesterday when I unfortunately happened upon this dead gopher tortoise. The shame of it is that this animal had been intentionally struck. The smear of gruesome started in the middle of the lane, so the driver had to swerve to hit this animal.
In Georgia, many of our gopher tortoises are now stuck to residing in the park-like settings created on the shoulders of roads due to the lack of fire maintained, low basal area pine savannas. This, unfortunately, places them at great risk of being struck by cars. Equally sad, a student from Clemson University placed fake turtles in the road a couple years back and discovered some drivers intentionally swerved to hit turtles (
Study Shows People Will Swerve To Hit Turtles In The Road | CINEMABLEND).
Please support projects that restore habitats near existing gopher tortoise colonies to get them to move away from roadsides. Also support projects that create under- or overpasses for wildlife (information here:
Caution: Wildlife Crossing).
And also, please tell folks (especially in Florida) that gopher tortoises are not sea turtles and shouldn't be thrown into the ocean! Source:
Please Don't Throw Tortoises Into the Sea, Florida Wildlife Officials Warn - ABC News
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