{"id":240801,"date":"2026-04-21T19:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/240801\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:58:08","slug":"investigation-kicks-off-after-florida-gopher-tortoise-found-sprayed-with-insulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/240801\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigation kicks off after Florida gopher tortoise found sprayed with insulation"},"content":{"rendered":"

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 An investigation has kicked off this week after a gopher tortoise was found sprayed in the face with insulation, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).<\/p>\n

In a release on Tuesday, FWC officials told News 6 that investigators had responded to reports of spray insulation being applied to the tortoise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is currently under investigation, and there are no additional details at this time,\u201d the release reads.<\/p>\n

While few details about the investigation have been released thus far, the Marine Science Center<\/a> explained that officials were able to remove most of the spray insulation just in time to save the animal.<\/p>\n

An image of the gopher tortoise before and after the spray insulation was removed (Marine Science Center)<\/p>\n

Gopher tortoises are considered a threatened species in Florida<\/a>, making it illegal to harm them or damage their burrows.<\/p>\n

Sick or injured gopher tortoises can be reported to the FWC by calling (850) 921-1030 weekdays from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, dead tortoises can be reported via the FWC web app here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anyone who suspects wildlife violations is urged to contact the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at (888) 404-3922.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 An investigation has kicked off this week after a gopher tortoise was found sprayed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1684,265,2651,1563,28,30,29,3899,2261],"class_list":{"0":"post-240801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-deland","11":"tag-environment","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-florida-headlines","14":"tag-florida-news","15":"tag-ponce-inlet","16":"tag-volusia-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}