Marco Island man buys vacant land, turns into tortoise sanctuary
MARCO ISLAND, Fla.– Doug Meester has quiet neighbors and, thanks to him, his neighbors will stay quiet. The Marco Island man purchased a vacant plot of land next door to his property earlier this year and plans to keep it as a gopher tortoise sanctuary. Dozens of tortoises already live on the property as well as hundreds of other animals who live in the tortoises’ burrows. If Doug hadn’t purchased the land, it is likely a home would have been built instead. “I thought it was the most generous thing a human could do for conservation,” said Brittany Piersma,...