Gopher Tortoises Displaced by Hurricane Helene Find New Home on Protected Florida Beach

Dozens of gopher tortoises survived a harrowing sea crossing after last year’s deadly and destructive Hurricane Helene swept them two miles from their native home.

The tortoises found themselves swimming — and possibly floating — for their lives from Egmont Key national wildlife refuge to Fort De Soto County Park on a remote part of the Florida coast.

“We found them right there on the beach, so we think that a combination of some potential to float or swim, we did have massive amounts of debris that came over from Egmont Key, it’s entirely possible that they rode those debris rafts over,” Fort De Soto’s Chief Park Ranger Dave Harshbarger, who first spotted the castaways, told Bay News 9.

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Before Helene, Fort De Soto had about eight gopher tortoise burrows, but after the hurricane officials said the number had grown to more than 80 spread throughout the park.

Park rangers are excited that the new residents seem to be settling in well, as they provide a host of benefits for the ecosystem.

“They’re a keystone species, which means they share their burrows with other species, and there’s been something like 250 different species recorded as living in gopher tortoise burrows,” said Anna Yu, a Fort De Soto park ranger who is responsible for the wellbeing of the gentle reptiles, as The Guardian reported.

Eckerd College is studying and monitoring the movements of Fort De Soto’s gopher tortoise population with the aid of cameras set up outside their burrows, reported Bay News 9.

Officials stressed that visitors to the park should keep their distance from the burrowing tortoises, respect their habitat and be on the lookout for tortoises crossing roadways.

Gopher tortoises are a state-designated threatened species, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“Everybody in the ecosystem benefits from gopher tortoises being there, and we’ll hopefully see an increase in biodiversity in the park. Because we have all these new burrows, other animals are able to use them, like eastern diamondback snakes, black racers, all kinds of different reptiles,” Yu said, as The Guardian reported. “The last time a gopher frog was listed as being one of the species in the park was in 2016 so it’s really cool to think that maybe some of these really imperiled species that rely on gopher tortoise burrows to survive might make their way back.”

Gopher tortoises are land-based animals whose flippers are designed for digging, not swimming. Yu said it was fortunate that those who survived the calamitous hurricane ended up on the protected beach.

“The whole event was just sheer luck that they ended up at Fort De Soto and not out at sea, or at some of the other beaches north of St. Pete Beach and Treasure Island, really popular beaches that don’t have the habitat to support these creatures,” Yu said. “It could have turned out a lot differently for them.”

Observers have witnessed some of the tortoises exhibiting behaviors that indicate they may have been traumatized by their hazardous journey, such as burrowing deep into higher elevations, beyond the storm surge line of the hurricane.

“It’s like they knew exactly where to go, they went a little bit higher in hopes of not being drowned out by another storm,” Yu said.

Some of the tortoises have exhibited mating behaviors since settling into their new home.

“It’s a sign they’re thriving. Being able to mate is a sign of success,” Yu added.

Yu called the event “ecologically important,” and emphasized that the rangers want to ensure the park remains “a wild place and home to an abundance of wildlife that depends on the people that come through, depends on their respect and all of our collective stewardship of their habitat to survive.”