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Article: Florida School Official Admits Haste in Killing Protected Tortoises.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- October 28, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Oct. 27--TAVARES, Fla.--Superintendent Jerry Smith said Tuesday that school district officials may have erred in deciding to kill federally protected gopher tortoises at two school sites instead of delaying construction and moving the fragile animals.
"I don't like that picture of us killing tortoises and how that flies with the public and little schoolchildren," Smith said.
Struggling to fend off what he called a "public relations nightmare," Smith said the district acted in haste to get the elementary schools at Clermont and Astatula up quickly. If the protected tortoises had been saved, the two schools ...