A recent incident in Central Florida has state wildlife officers seeing red.
According to a Wednesday post on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission website, a gopher tortoise was found completely covered in red spray paint with concrete on its limbs and the top of its shell.
The tortoise was found by two people in the middle of a road near the Lake County town of Montverde.
FWC says it is both "illegal and very harmful to a gopher tortoise to apply man-made substances, such as paint or concrete, to any part of their body or shell."
The gopher tortoise, which is a threatened and protected species, is now being rehabilitated.
If you have any information about who may have applied the paint and concrete on the tortoise, please call our Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922), #FWC or *FWC on a cellphone, or text/email Tip@MyFWC.com.
