Today I was volunteering with the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge. We went to the Back to Nature Festival at Grayton Beach State Park. We brought several of our Animal Ambassadors to share their rescue stories and explain how the refuge rehabilitates and ultimately releases wildlife that will be able to survive independently in the wild. This is Landlord, an adult male gopher tortoise. He was brought to the refuge with a previous injury to his shell. Landlord was living by a very busy road, which could have caused more injuries. He cannot be relocated due to FWC protocols which regulate the relocation of this species and is nonreleaseable.
Landlord had a great day, demonstrating what a gopher tortoise does best..digs burrows! He walked around at the park, until he found just the right spot, and then started digging a burrow. He dug for several hours, using his large, flat forelimbs to dig, dig, dig!
At the end of our visit, I caught this picture of Landlord proudly looking out from his new (but temporary) little burrow-
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