When Chief Randy Tifft, Deputy Justin Moore and Sergeant Danny Miller from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office set out to investigate a “slow-moving suspect” at the Gulf Breeze Zoo, they didn’t expect the trail to lead them to Softball — a Galápagos Tortoise standing only two feet tall, but weighing nearly 500 pounds.
His alleged crimes? Eating lettuce, soaking up neck scratches, and moving at a pace that makes Florida traffic look fast. If you wish to be Softball’s partner in crime, you can! Softball and the Galapagos Tortoise experience is one of the many animal encounters offered at the Gulf Breeze Zoo.
After a thorough “investigation,” deputies determined Softball was not the suspect they were looking for. But in the process, they discovered something even better: a reminder of the similarities between law enforcement and one of the animal kingdom’s most enduring species…