Article: Tortoises get new digs: Four taken near Maitland Boulevard go free in the Panhandle.

Byline: Kevin Spear

May 24--Four gopher tortoises, spared this week from death at a Central Florida construction site, were set free early Wednesday morning, 375 miles away in a Panhandle field lush with bluestem grass.

They were an odd sight, marked by identification codes and fitted with radio transmitters, and are part of a high-profile experiment. No other Florida tortoises, a species accelerating toward extinction, are known to have been moved such a great distance for their protection.

In a few weeks, state authorities are expected to stop the controversial practice of letting builders kill or entomb tortoises for a fee of hundreds of ...

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