Sadly, George’s story is not unique. The armored shells of turtles and tortoises represent one of the most uniquely adapted vertebrate body plans and have served to protect these animals since prehistoric times. But evolution’s best defense mechanisms provide little protection against humankind’s willful determination to slaughter these incredible creatures. In our modern globally-integrated economy, turtle hunting will never be a sustainable industry. Turtles neither mature fast enough nor produce enough offspring to withstand even moderate levels of continual harvesting.

For decades, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists like the late John Behler and Brian Horne have crisscrossed the globe to study rare turtles and tortoises and prevent their demise. Dr. Horne, like other experts in the field, believes that the international trade of wild-caught turtles is the main factor in driving more than half of the 330 species of turtles close to extinction. On a percentage basis, turtles as a group are now more at risk of extinction than birds, mammals, or amphibians.

While most girls her age might shy away from the sticky amphibians, she embraces them, sometimes quite literally.

"Frogs are really cool," she said. "They are very cute and they have always kind of interested me."

She's gone to frog-listening classes and can identify them by their calls. She knows that frogs help tell the health of the environment and that they are an important part of the food web. They also help to keep the insect population down.

George Heinrich, a St. Petersburg wildlife biologist who has taught the home-schooled Avalon for the last four years, loves what he sees in her.

"She's a very bright child," he said. "She's like a sponge. She takes what you teach her and runs with it."

The two have paddled their way down the Hillsborough River and taken nature hikes at Brooker Creek Preserve and Boyd Hill Nature Park. They've even gone to Florida's east coast to watch sea turtles hatch.

According to the DoE’s technical review committee, which is persistently ignored by the CPA, the accumulative applications by the developer equate to the potential development of around 535 acres of land and that a Planned Area Development (PAD) application should have been submitted to planning along with a comprehensive environmental impact assessment.

In a memo at the beginning of October relating to the latest application to the CPA by the developer, which is for a golf course backing onto the Botanic Park and still under consideration, the DoE said it was concerned about the cumulative impact of the development and a lack of consideration within the context of the other Eagle Asset development parcels.

The DoE pointed to the encirclement of the Botanic Park through the series of development applications, which have been strongly resisted by the department due to the significant adverse impact on the blue iguanas. Nevertheless, all of the applications, modifications and changes considered by the CPA to date have been granted, posing a significant threat to the future of the important conservation and tourist facility.

“The current application parcel is land occupied by individuals from the free-roaming population of blue iguanas which originates from the Park,” the DoE warned in its comments to the CPA on the latest application for a golf course. “Removal of this habitat would directly impact this population. The potential introduction of roadways and associated cars would make this area significantly less inhabitable for the iguanas.”

The venom of the black mamba snake, one of the world's deadliest poisons administered by one of the world's deadliest reptiles, can kill you within half an hour. Untreated bites have a mortality rate of 100%.

Hidden in the grim cocktail the snake carries, though, are a couple of proteins with a remarkably different effect. Research published this week in Nature has revealed two molecules in mamba venom that can eliminate pain with as much potency as morphine, suggesting an unusual new source for painkillers.

The proposed ordinance amendment defines an “exotic animal” as “any animal that is not normally domesticated in the United States, including any such animal’s hybrid with domestic species, or an animal that is wild by nature, regardless of whether it was bred in the wild or captivity”. The Board plans to ban any person in Dane County from possessing or selling these animals.
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Anyone found in violation of this ordinance is subject to fines ranging from $100 to $500.