Maggie Serus is hard to miss, and that’s the point.
It’s a searing summer morning at Honeymoon Island State Park, and just beyond the toll booth, donning a bright orange vest and a leopard print headband, stands the proud 71-year-old.
There’s a smile on her face and a poster in her hands.
“DRIVE SLOW,” it reads in big bold letters above an impressively accurate drawing of an endangered gopher tortoise. “LOOK BELOW.”
Hundreds of drivers funnel through the entrance, waving, honking their horns or cheering when they pass her. But — most important of all, she says — they slow down as they drive into one of Florida’s most visited parks, a crucial habitat for a beloved species.
“I’m supposed to be retired, sitting around and watching TV,” she joked. “I would never expect I’d be spending every weekend doing this, but it makes me feel happy and people are being receptive and learning.”
It all began earlier this summer, when Serus, a former Connecticut special education teacher, heard from park volunteers about a rise in tortoise road kills at the park: an estimated seven dead in June alone.
The statewide population has seen steady decline in recent decades, and as with many imperiled species in Florida, cars are part of the problem. A 2018 review found that 41% of all tortoise reports made to the state involved a dead or injured tortoise by a roadside.
The population at Honeymoon Island has been hit especially hard after surge from Hurricane Helene last year inundated and eroded their coastal habitat. The animals are often crossing the road these days to shelter in their sandy burrows, or seeking shade under cars.
So every tortoise mattered, Serus thought, and the road kills were too high for her not to act.
Just before the Fourth of July weekend rush, she bought her first poster board and etched a message to drivers. Park rangers gave her permission to sit at the entrance, and away she went.
“I had no idea what to expect, they’d probably think I’m nuts,” she said. “But the whole thing turned out to be so amazing.”
People threw out peace signs, she said. Others rolled down their windows to ask more about the tortoise population at the park. Drivers were noticeably easing up on the accelerator.
Park rangers brought her an umbrella, some bug spray and a fan. The public responded so well that first weekend, she has returned 19 times.
Her efforts appear to be paying off: After a spike in tortoise strikes in June, there were none killed during the first two weeks of Serus’ outreach, according to a Facebook post by Beth Reynolds, a Honeymoon Island park ranger. A spokesperson for the state’s environmental agency said after the spike of seven deaths throughout June, there have been just two tortoise deaths at the park since June 25. While gopher tortoises are typically active year-round, most of their time spent outside of burrows occurs in the summer months.
“She’s really brought up the awareness,” said Bob Fortner, president of the Friends of the Island Parks, a citizen-support organization advocating for Honeymoon and Caladesi Island State Parks.
Not only are drivers seeing her as they enter the park, but images and stories about Serus’ efforts have spread around Facebook groups, he said.
“For her to be that dedicated, to sit out there in the heat, we just really appreciate her dedication and the results,” Fortner said.
The park does have permanent signs warning about potential tortoise crossings, but drivers rarely pay attention, he said. Having someone out there in person makes a more human connection.
With more than 1 million annual visitors, getting everyone to slow down at the park is an uphill battle. In the wake of the June spike in tortoise road kills, officers with Florida’s wildlife agency patrolled the park over the Labor Day weekend to crack down on speeders.
Greg Kuebler, a 68-year-old from Dunedin, drove into the park around 1 p.m. on Aug. 31 to give his brother and nephew a tour. As he passed the toll booth, he waved to Serus.
More mindful of his speed, Kuebler said he drove the park’s loop hovering around the 20-mph speed limit, keeping an eye out for tortoises as he went. The animals are typically outside of their burrows midday to bask in peak sunlight. But when he turned onto the access road heading toward the beach, he didn’t realize the speed limit dropped to 10 mph.
An officer flicked on his lights and blew his siren.
“A good lesson for me to drive slower in the park,” said Kuebler, who addedthat the officer gave him a warning. “Park users have to realize that the park is full of wildlife and the animals don’t obey traffic regulations. It’s on the drivers to watch out for the wildlife.”
Kuebler was one of many to be pulled over during the holiday weekend. In two days, officers issued nearly 150 warnings and wrote 12 tickets, according to data provided by Ashlee Sklute, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“Sometimes it was like watching the Kentucky Derby,” Serus said. “Four drivers coming out of the toll booth and racing each other to the beach.”
Her setup has evolved since the first day at the park. Rangers drew her a sturdier sign, and she’s better protected against the bugs and summer heat.
She also has a name: “Team Tortoise.”
While the team has just one official member, 52-year-old Alexis Boone is joining the cause. Serus had plansto spend time with her children in Connecticut and take a much-deserved break from the Florida sun.
Boone, a certified nurse assistant who lives in a condo near the park entrance, visits Honeymoon nearly every day and met Serus earlier this summer. When she heard Serus was going out of town, she eagerly volunteered to take her place and keep the outreach going.
“She was looking for some help, and I’ve been promoted,” Boone said. Her first day was this week, and she plans to go out Sunday too, weather permitting. “I hope people slow down and take advantage of what’s around them. The slower you go through the park, the more you get to see.”
Serus said she has been missing the park and its wildlife since she left. She had never seen a gopher tortoise until she moved to Florida in 2023. But once she began visiting Honeymoon Island regularly, the endangered animals became the highlight of her day.
And one tortoise in particular has captured her heart.
As she sits near the pet beach to relax, a tortoise with a noticeable ring of salt around his shell will regularly come up to her. She’s started calling him “Teddy.”
What drives Serus to sit out in the heat for hours, fending off bugs and dehydration?
It’s Teddy, she said, and the others like him.
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