Meet the Gopher Tortoises

You’re Invited to a Wild Night with the Turtle Coast Sierra Club!

Join us for a special presentation all about gopher tortoises—Florida’s most important underground engineers!

Our Speaker will be Lindsay Mayer from the Florida Wildlife Hospital.

Discover:
• Fascinating features of the gopher tortoise
• Its vital role in Florida’s ecosystems
• How we can all help protect this keystone species

Meet the Wildlife!
We’ll be joined by a live ambassador gopher tortoise AND a surprise animal that shares its burrow—depending on who’s feeling social!

A fun, educational PowerPoint presentation will be shown, packed with photos and facts. Just bring your curiosity!

We are also collecting items at this meeting to Help Support the Great Work they do to help injured Animals. If you can bring something from the list below to help them out:

• Amazon Wishlist https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3U1B1DHS9Y75R
• Chewy Wishlist https://www.chewy.com/g/florida-wildlife-hospital_b75374061
• Stamps (forever stamps and $1 stamps)
• Laundry bleach tabs
• Liquid bleach
• Laundry detergent (prefer laundry sheets because they are more eco friendly)
• Toilet paper
• Walnuts in the shell
• Pecans in the shell

Bring a friend and come get inspired by Florida’s wild side!

About Our Speaker – Lindsay Mayer is the Outreach and Volunteer Manager at the Florida Wildlife Hospital, a role she’s held since October 2021. Her connection with the hospital began back in 2011 as a dedicated volunteer, and her passion for wildlife has only grown since.

With over a decade of experience in wildlife rehabilitation and the zoo industry, Lindsay has cared for an incredible variety of animals—from opossums and stingrays to Komodo dragons. She specializes in animal training and thrives on using ambassador animals to spark curiosity and inspire conservation in both children and adults. Her goal is to create meaningful encounters that connect people with the natural world and motivate them to take action to protect it.

Lindsay holds undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Music from Bradley University and earned her Master’s degree in Biology from Miami University.

We meet at the Unitarian Universalist Friendship Fellowship, located at 3115 Friendship Pl · Rockledge, FL. Our presentation begins at 7pm on Thursday, April 24th !

In Person and live stream this on Zoom at this link Zoom Link Here

The Public is invited. Doors will open at 6:30 pm, allowing ample time for mingling before the meeting commences.