Members of Eglin Air Force Base’s Natural Resources office tag a gopher tortoise by drilling holes on the corners of its shell before releasing it into its new home deep within the base’s range Oct. 26. The first of approximately 250 tortoises were released into their 100-acre environment after being rescued from urban development at their previous home in South Florida. Increasing the gopher tortoise population here could prevent the Fish and Wildlife Service from listing the animal on the Threatened and Endangered Species list, allowing more flexibility for the military missions on Eg

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Members of Eglin Air Force Base’s Natural Resources office tag a gopher tortoise by drilling holes on the corners of its shell before releasing it into its new home deep within the base’s range Oct. 26. The first of approximately 250 tortoises were released into their 100-acre environment after being rescued from urban development at their previous home in South Florida. Increasing the gopher tortoise population here could prevent the Fish and Wildlife Service from listing the animal on the Threatened and Endangered Species list, allowing more flexibility for the military missions on Eglin. ( Air Force photo/Samuel King Jr.)

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Size: 3000px × 2153px
Photo credit: © AB Forces News Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 33rd, 53rd, 96th, air, aircraft, airman, airmen, eglin, environment, environmental, florida, force, gopher, jr, king, nw, range, sam, samuel, tortoise, tw, wg