The Ybor City Stogie

Florida's Pave and Slay
Rare Tortoises' Entombment To End

Under Florida's pave-and-pay program, developers obtained "take" permits from the state to build on top of tortoise burrows—essentially entombing them alive. About 94,000 tortoises may have been buried since pave-and-pay began in 1991. Some suffered slow deaths due to dehydration or starvation, while others were crushed by heavy machinery........more