Tortoises buried alive by builders prompt outcry among S. Florida resident

[pinniped]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ctortoisessep09,0,3426791.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Tortoises buried alive by builders prompt outcry among S. Florida residents

By David Fleshler
Staff Writer
Posted September 9 2005

Florida residents have expressed horror at the state's practice of allowing developers to bury gopher tortoises alive in the course of building houses, schools and strip malls.
----snip
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel recently reported that the wildlife commission has issued permits allowing developers to kill an estimated 67,000 to 71,000 gopher tortoises since 1991. While some were relocated or survived the work, those that were buried may have taken months to die because of their slow metabolism, according to biologists with the wildlife commission.
----snip
In exchange for permits to kill the tortoises, developers were required to pay for the protection of gopher tortoise habitat elsewhere.

In planning a new store in Lake Park in northern Palm Beach County, for example, Wal-Mart recently obtained a permit to kill five gopher tortoises, in exchange for paying $11,409 to buy and protect 1.49 acres of habitat. Other developers, including Centex Homes Inc. and DiVosta and Co., received permits in the past few years to kill gopher tortoises while building housing developments in Palm Beach County.
----

More:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ctortoisessep09,0,3426791.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
----

Just another example of the total disregard for life these sickos have.

[Solon]

1. Anything for a fucking buck...

I FUCKING HATE CAPITALISTS!!!!!!!!!

[whatever4]

21. And that's just what they want

you to say. Hatred of a free market is EXACTLY what these fascists want. imho. These business were given PERMITS to do this; how is that the fault of capitalism?

I say it's not. The SAME exact things can happen and DO happen under other systems, both political and economic. Capitalism is our economic system, not our political system. Law makers, local up to federal, NOT representing us or our interests.

We are not being represented. Business interest ARE being represented. Business interests and the tax money the supposedly provide (though lawyers and much time and money is spent in making sure they minimize their tax burden) drive lawmakers and politicians to pander to them. To treat their interests the same as ours, and they are not. In many cases, profits run counter to the will and right of the people... but these businesses are virtually given human rights status. As if the will of one company trumps the will of all the occupants in the region...just because the company shells out some tax dollars. As if THEY matter more.

It wasn't supposed to be that way.

In our government, businesses do not have a "vote", and they should not matter more that the will of the people. In OUR government, they should not matter at ALL, but we all know how it works, and government in our nation favors businesses almost every time. 'Cause they matter more. Because they pay more taxes.

If one believes capitalism is the problem, one must believe a free market is what allowed our political system to be bought out. I have to say, in giving more power to the government, running away from capitalism...how can that possibly improve the situation, if the situation is lack of representation in the very first place??? One could almost see the begging-for-dollars tax system as being more responsible for the leveraged buy-out of our freedoms. Politicians making money off the businesses...not exactly a capitalistic ideal. AT ALL. Tax-paying citizens being second-class to beer companies and auto-makers, 'cause we have to give them tax breaks, and fewer restrictions, beg them to stay, don't leave the community!!!. NOT capitalism at all. Not when they're making huge profits that don't even go back into the community, and business practices on healthcare, the environment and outsourcing can instead HURT the community.

But still, those big businesses seem to be above the law.

It's because they're PART of the law. Bought and paid for.

The problem is that government is working WITH unethical businesses, as practice, overall, for a buck. They're doing it for TAX revenues. They give FAVOR to the money makers for TAX REVENUES, and that is how they justify it. Just like with eminent domain, bankruptcy and health care entitlements; are those horrible decisions capitalism, or bad judgment in lawmaking??

Who is to blame, the unethical businesses, or our government that works with them? Businesses that mismanage and still get government contracts, or the government that seems to only work with private folks that keep tying to break and abuse the system.

It's a lack of ethics. Businesses are no more unethical than governments. Their motives are different, and when they're IN government, the motives of the government become profit-driven too. Nothing wrong with wanting a profit. Something wrong when you want to steal to get it, and the legal system encourages it, only lets those types succeed.

Perhaps if our nation did a better job looking, promoting and supporting ethical businesses, they would be unable to abuse, steal, lie and cheat us. Perhaps if we ALL weren't so "profit driven" as to ALWAYS go for the lowest price and the best bargain, it wouldn't be profitable for them to USE such practices.

Capitalism? We made it ourselves. WE supported these businesses as much as our government did.

[roguevalley]

2. Jesus dying Christ. When is the revolution. I will bring my own pitch

fork. May they die in agony. If I thought my old man was doing that, I would divorce his sorry evil ass.

[mirandapriestly]

3. OMG! What is the world coming to? nt

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. The tortoises were told to evacuate. They should have left.

[slor]

8. LOL...

I love your dark humor.

On Edit: They should bury the people responsible for this too!

[Kool Kitty]

27. Of course they were told to evacuate.

But many don't own a car, because it's hard to drive with such short legs and hands. (Thanks, BTW, for my first laugh of the day!)

[Piperay]

5. Boy does this PISS ME OFF!!!

I have two tortoises not Gopher tortoises but CA Desert Tortoises and they are the sweetest, most gentle loving creatures imaginable. DAMN THOSE ASSHOLES TO HELL!!!!!!!:grr: :nuke:

[ngant17]

6. our Fla. turtles

The gopher tortoise is a wonderful creature and it really saddened mhy heart tremendously to read this story.

I remember last year, a few days before one of the hurricanes that struck Florida during the summer of 2004, I recall noticing how I saw some Fla. gopher turtles crawling out of their holes and it appeared they were looking for higher ground. You usually don't seem then crawling about in the middle of the hottest part of the day. It was then that I knew that we were gonna be hit by a big one, and something was telling these turtles they had better be looking for a little higher ground. FEMA might still learn a thing or two from these humble creatures.

Unfortunately, these defenseless turtles have no lobbyists in Washington to protect them from the developers who have lost all sense of respect for our native environment.

I wish when people want to be patriotic, they will truly love their country in the form of a love of the natural beauty of the environment. I know this will never happen as long this sicko capitalist mentality is running the show, but I am not so totally pessimistic to just sit back and let them get away with destroying these innocent creatures without fighting back for their defense somehow.

[Betsy Ross]

17. "FEMA might still learn a thing or two from these humble creatures."

But they would have to take their heads out of their shells to do that. Or whereever their heads are.

[countmyvote4real]

7. Roaches & Republicans I can understand, but tortoises?

What is the threat exactly? I didn't read the liks.

[leftchick]

9. fuck

:cry:

[Cobalt Violet]

10. A month to die, buried alive? These idiots who did this aren't human.

These people need to be stopped. That is just savage. I don't know how we can claim to be a civilize society.:cry: :cry: :cry:

[Solly Mack]

11. sick fucks

[dusty64]

12. More examples of the

culture of death party. The republican party the party of DEATH, CORRUPTION, and DESTRUCTION!!!!!

[Benhurst]

13. Jeb Bush's Florida. Says it all. NT

[The Stranger]

14. Kicked and recommended.

Someone give it one more recommendation.

[Lorien]

15. And WHO is in the pockets of FL big developers?

Jeb Bush. :grr:

[CrispyQ]

16. We are a people losing our humanity.

We are becoming monsters & most don't even see the transformation.

This is absolutely sick.

[JugDack]

19. Yes! You've hit it exactly!

One more example of capitalism devaluing life. Where's Operation Rescue when you need them?

[CrispyQ]

22. ...

Welcome to DU, JugDack! Glad to have you & your friends & family too!

:hi:

[JugDack]

28. Thanks!

I'm a long time lurker who finally had to speak up. Let's hope that's a trend!

[MisterP]

34. I often feel like alien pods are taking over: kittens beaten

to death with bats, puppies on barbecues, hundredfold My Lais

[CrispyQ]

35. I can't even read these types of stories.

They haunt me for weeks.


"As long as humanity continues to be the ruthless destroyer of other beings, we will never know health or peace. For as long as people massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed those who sow the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love." — Pythagoras, philosopher

[yorkiemommie1]

38. me, too

this is awful.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. Our developer removed the ones in the second phase of development.

You know what they did? They used cranes to dig them out.

They say that gopher turtles don't do well when the get relocated. It's probably because they get injured in the process.

[Coventina]

20. More from those "CULTURE OF LIFE" folks

:puke:

:mad:


All I can say is that they've got some mighty bad karma coming their way.

[DS1]

23. It'll all be washed away in a few years anyway

:shrug:

[Lowell]

24. I thought our tortoises

were a protected species here in Florida. I guess it is like their pollution permits. Protect a habitat where none exist and kill those living in their natural home. These gentle creatures live an extraordinarly long lives if left unmolested.

[progressivebydesign]

25. Most humans are speciesists, I've decided.

Many think that our lives are so much more important than any other species on Earth. Who is to say what the life of tortoise is worth? A developer? Jeb Bush? This is disgusting.

[flvegan]

26. Ah, yes "take" permits

Someone very close to me was an ecology firm that did conservation and mitigation site work here in the West Central Florida area. This is so common it's nauseating.

One person in Florida that was fighting the developers woke up one moring with a mutilated gopher tortoise hanging from the mailbox.

Sick? You betcha.

[ernstbass]

29. Absolutely grotesque

[Gyre]

30. Developers are generally pieces of sh*t.

In case some of you haven't figured that out yet. Carpetbaggers among us who pretend to respectability.

Gyre

[RaleighNCDUer]

31. I don't get it.

If they knew there were 5 gopher tortises on the site, why pay $11,000 for habitat off site? Wouldn't it be more cost effective to simply capture the five tortises and transport them to already protected habitat?

How's that possibly break down cost/benefit wise?

[PaulaFarrell]

41. Me either

Unless there were actually lots more than 5 killed, and the permit was just a cover in case anyone protested. But that wouldn't happen in Florida, would it?

[Megahurtz]

32. Greedy Assholes!

:mad:

[Omaha Steve]

33. Lets bury a contractor or two

How hard is it to pick up a large reptile and relocate it out of dangers way?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

36. Culture of life

with no respect for the living. :grr:

[burrowowl]

37. I am against burying alive

any fuana or flora!
And, I will add that the U$ Military in Gulf War I buried thousands of Iraki Soldiers alive in their bunkers with bulldozers (Europe heard about it, not the U$ of A), let alone bombing fleeing ones.
And I am against not dropping water, food, baby formula to people stranded in NOLA, etc.
DAMN CAPITALISTS/FASCISTS! and are they fauna or flora or something else? If something else, bury alive or destroy and bury, or treat as contaminated waste and seal in concrete, sentence them to rooms where they play Monopoly and are not allowed to sleep?

[Catchawave]

39. HSUS has a page about this:

http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/issues_facing_wildlife/habitat_loss_and_fragmentation/gopher_tortoises_cannot_outrun.html#What_You_Can_Do

[GoddessOfGuinness]

42. Thanks for the link!

[JCMach1]

40. Gopher tortoises are disappearing at alarming rates

and this makes matters much worse.

Even in areas such as my parents home where it was a rare event not to find a gopher on the property (they were very welcome guests), gophers are now morre than threatened. They need large ranges and undisturbed habitat to thrive.