State wildlife officials are investigating two North Florida girls after a video posted online showed them lighting a threatened gopher tortoise on fire and stomping it to death.
Videos posted on the Facebook page of the Nevada Voters of Animals showed the Orange Park girls dousing the tortoise with a flammable fluid and laughing as the creature tries to get away from the flames.
A second video shows one of the girls stomping on the animal until its shell breaks and it's dead.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Karen Parker told the Florida Times-Union that the agency has received a lot of complaints about the video.
"We have received multiple complaints about the videos posted to Facebook last evening showing the killing of a small gopher tortoise," the FWC said in a Facebook post. "Our officers are investigating the case and are presently working with the State Attorney’s Office to determine what charges may be filed."
Anyone with information is asked to call the Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC.
