On July 1, 2014 Georgia Senate Bill 322 made it illegal to use gasoline or other chemicals to drive rattlesnakes from gopher tortoise burrows, a practice that threatens tortoises and other creatures that use the burrows.
Gopher tortoises are threatened by habitat destruction, fragmentation, and degradation, and the Turner Endangered Species Fund has worked to restore robust and viable gopher tortoise populations on the Nonami (GA) and Avalon (FL) properties.
Bill 322 is an important step in protecting the species from human threat. It’s also an important milestone in using the political process to combat the extinction crisis. Conservation scientists and organizations must be willing to fully in engage in the political process in order to find solution to protect Earth’s biological diversity.