PALM CITY, Fla. — A gopher tortoise was picked up in Port St. Lucie, when a homeowner found her in their yard painted with nail polish.
Now, it's undergoing cleaning and treatment at the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center.
“The tortoise needs to thermo-regulate and they cannot change their body temperature efficiently if the sun is reflecting,” said Dr. Leonard Fox, a volunteer veterinarian at the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center. “This tortoise now cannot hide from predators as easily because the sun is reflecting.”
He says among the dangers for this gopher tortoise is the polish can be toxic and the cleaning will take a lot of time.
"We can’t stress her out so just like 15 minutes every couple of days of scrubbing," Fox said. "We can’t use nail polish remover because that’s toxic to the turtle.”
Fox said he’s treating more and more threatened gopher tortoises these days, as our communities undergo lots of development, pushing tortoises out of their burrows.
“We see probably 20 to 30 gopher tortoises every month that come through here,” he said.
He explained that the most common danger is gopher tortoises getting hit by a car. They lose their habitat, get confused, and can end up in roadways.
"Because of habitat destruction the gopher tortoises are infringing a little bit more with the human population," Fox said.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conversation Commission (FWC), over 350 other species depend on the burrows these tortoises create. It’s against the law to damage, kill, or harass gopher tortoises, their burrows, or their eggs.
For now, the FWC is investigating the incident. If you have any information about what happened you can call the FWC's anonymous Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-3922.
If you'd like to help the tortoise by donating or volunteering at the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center you can give them a call at 772-286-6200 or click here for their website.
