Florida Teens Wanted for Torturing, Killing Rare Tortoise

Two Florida teenage girls are being investigated after posting a video to Facebook of them torturing and killing a rare tortoise, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

Videos showed the Orange Park girls dousing the helpless gopher tortoise with a flammable liquid, lighting it on fire and stomping on its shell until it breaks, laughing while they do it.

"Burn baby, burn baby," one of the girls can be heard saying in the video, according to The Palm Beach Post, as the turtle is frantically trying to crawl away. "Now you're scared of us."

When the fire did not kill the tortoise, the girls decide to throw him hard onto the pavement. Still alive, one girl stomps on the tortoise.

"We just (expletive) committed a (expletive) murder on a turtle," one girl says, laughing. "Dead turtle everyone. That's funny."

A slew of complaints followed the video's posting on July 15. By 9:30 this morning, 2,866 outraged people had commented on the post, including some who said the girls were from Clay County in northeastern Florida. Those comments offered the girls' names and addresses.

"Everybody is pretty much sickened by it and can't believe someone would do that to an innocent animal," FWS spokeswoman Karen Parker said, according to The Florida Times-Union.

State wildlife officials are currently considering what punishment to give that fits such a cruel crime.

"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."

Since the video's posting and subsequent protests, one of the girls has removed the video as well as her Facebook page.

Officials said gopher tortoises are a threatened species, and it is against the law to kill, harass or destroy them, their eggs or burrows.