Graphic video of a small gopher tortoise being burned, tortured and ultimately crushed to death has resulted in two Orange Park girls being investigated for possible animal cruelty, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

A Nevada animal abuse group's Facebook page (warning: the link contains graphic videos) is showing the videos after the girls apparently deleted them, showing them laughing and cursing as they douse the tortoise with alcohol and light it ablaze, then throw it and stomp on it.

A Nevada Voters for Animals member comments that one video of the torture is "truly one of the saddest things I've ever witnessed."

The Sheriff's Office said a deputy was sent to a home on Washington Avenue, but the case has been turned over to Fish and Wildlife for investigation.

Several people who saw the video also called Fish and Wildlife's alert number, (888) 404-3922, spokeswoman Karen Parker said. The agency is working with the State Attorney's Office to determine possible charges.

"We received quite a few complaints about this and a call from the Sheriff's Office, so we had an officer go out last night," Parker said. "... Everybody is pretty much sickened by it and can't believe someone would do that to an innocent animal."

Parker confirmed that the animal is a gopher tortoise, which has been listed as a threatened species in Florida since 2007.

The first of the two videos shows the girls dousing the tortoise with alcohol and lighting it ablaze as the creature runs in circles through the flames. The tortoise tries to escape after one of the girls douses it with fluid again.

"Burn baby, burn baby," one girl says as they light the tortoise on fire. "Now you are scared of us, huh?"

One girl lights a stick on fire and pokes the tortoise, then again.

"He's not dead yet," one voice says with an exasperated sigh. "I just want him to die."

They agree to throw the tortoise.

"He's - - hissing still," one says as they pick the struggling animal up.

A girl in the pink top, whose face is seen multiple times, throws the tortoise as the other girl laughs.

"Let's do it again," the videographer said. "Let me do it. He's not dead. He just went in his shell."

The tortoise is thrown again as the girls laugh.

In the second video one girl stomps on the tortoise until it is dead - its organs forced through a cracked carapace.

"His heart came out with a bunch of grass," the girl with the camera says as she laughs, then kicks the corpse. "He's dead. That's funny."

The girl with the camera puts it down next to the eviscerated tortoise and proclaims, "Dead turtle, everyone."