Slow and steady wins the race to save Georgia’s state reptile

— Georgia is winning the race to save the state’s reptile.

Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen shows us the decade long effort to help the number of Gopher tortoises bounce back.

In the South Georgia grasslands, a place the Muscogee called Alapaha which means “other side.” State Wildlife Biologist James Hunt does some detective work.

“It is kind of unraveling a little bit of a mystery, I guess,” said Hunt.

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Along Snake Doctor Road in what’s known as the cactus farm there are holes – lots, and lots and lots and lots of holes.

“Here’s another one right over here,” said Chief of Wildlife Conservation Matt Elliott.

“Finding a lot in one place is generally a good thing,” said Senior Wildlife Biologist Daniel Sollenberger.

Sollenberger wants to find what is in the holes.

“This has got somebody in it, for sure,” said Elliott.

Elliott is keeping score.

“How many you think are out there?” asked Petersen.

“There are over 2,000,” replied Elliott.

“So, there’s a whole other world down there?” asked Petersen.

“There is,” answered Hunt.

Armed with a gadget called a burrow scope, a camera at the end of a long hose, they watch a live feed.

“I think he’s back in the back,” said Elliott.

Way back – 30 feet out, 8 feet down.

“See the top of the shell here?” asked Hunt.

“Whew! There he is man. Got him,” said Elliott.

A tortoise, a gopher tortoise.

“The name gopher comes from the mammal. Pocket gophers famously dig holes,” said Sollenberger.

So does the reptile in this neck of the woods since the Pleistocene period two million years ago. In modern times much has been written about them.

In Aesop’s Fables from 600 BC, the hare didn’t stand a chance.

“You see him in there?” asked Elliott.

But over the last century, the reptile’s population in the Peach state has declined by 80%. A dwindling habitat means fewer pine forests and fewer tortoises.

“It’s a symbol for the state,” said Elliott. “Surely we should be able to protect the state reptile,” he continued.

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So, they did. In 1982 it became a protected species protected by law.

“You can look, but don’t touch. Way back in the day they suffered through a lot worse than that,” said Berndt Petersen crouching next to a tortoise.

“Historically, people actually used to eat them. They were called Hoover chickens during the Great Depression by some people,” said Sollenberger.

“I’m sure there’s one in there,” said Elliott standing next to a burrow.

And in 2015 the State Department of Natural Resources took things up a notch with the formation of the Georgia Gopher Tortoise Initiative.

At the time there were only 36 permanently protected tortoise populations across the state’s pinelands. The goal was to push it to 65.

This year, by conserving and managing the land the animals live on they made it.

“There’s one right over here!” said Elliott pointing at another burrow.

“We kind of dreamed of being able to protect it, and the fact that we did and are actively managing it now, it’s a big deal,” said Elliott.

And it keeps Georgia’s tortoises off the Federal Endangered Species Act list which can often result in federal regulations that can have negative impacts on local economies.

But 10 years of effort has paid off.

“Slow and steady wins the race?” asked Petersen.

“Absolutely,” replied Hunt.

But faster than you thought.

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