How the gopher tortoises in King’s Landing, FL are being safely rehomed before construction
The gopher tortoise is considered to be a “vulnerable” species according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It is a requirement for all developers to do a permitted land survey to identify any gopher tortoises living on development sites. Once identified, the animals have to be relocated to an area that is permitted by the State.
Frank Costa, a licensed real estate broker with Liberty Group Realty and manager of the Kings Landing Development, hired the private company of Zevcohen and Associates, a landscaping and environmental engineering company, to relocate the tortoises.
“This is my first time doing tortoises so I got educated a couple months back on the process,” Costa said. “I thought it was as simple as you pick them up and take them some place else, but it’s a long process, a lot of paper work, with a lot of money involved.”
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Photo from Tanya Russo.
