Gopher tortoise in the backyard

He was stuck under a hose running from the AC unit outside the house... I was in the kitchen, heard some scratching noises outside (the base of the AC unit is plastic), went outside to investigate... and there's this huge gopher tortoise! I gave him a bit of a push while trying to lift the hose he was under (it wouldn't budge much). After he got out, he was stomping around trying to find a way out of my fenced yard. He must have forgotten that he has a hole at the very back of my back yard, which I pointed out to him in this video ;)

I think it's illegal to mess with these things, so I was hesitant to pick him up and move him. Besides that, they hiss when you approach them, and flail their legs like crazy if you do pick one up (they like to cross roads, which means traffic stops and someone runs out to move it out of the road). Gopher tortoises are an endangered species...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_tortoise

I've also seen a smaller gopher tortoise, which created a tunnel opening behind my house, right next to my lanai.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• gopher
• tortoise
• gopherus
• back
• yard
• turtle