BLM to Kill Hundreds of Desert Tortoises as its Conservation Center Runs Out of Money

Hi peeps..

Some sad news I have come across today. The US Bureau of Land Management has recently announced that it is planning on murdering hundreds of endangered desert tortoises....

Why..??? They could at least release them all into the wild and some of them may have a chance of surviving. Or they could try and find homes for them or sanctuaries that might take them. Apparently this is all due to lack of funding...

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced it will kill hundreds of threatened desert tortoises it's been caring for at a Nevada conservation facility. The slaughter is being blamed on a lack of funds by the agency.

Real estate developers in southern Nevada who wanted to disrupt the habitat of threatened desert tortoises to build their little enclaves of air conditioning and irrigation in the arid suburbs of Las Vegas have been able to do so -- for a fee. And while at the height of the real estate boom those fees went a long way toward providing refuge for displaced tortoises, the real estate bust has seen the program implode.

www.kingsnake.com...

Apparently they do plan on releasing the 'hearty' ones that may have a chance of survival. I would quite happily have them all shipped over to me and I would happily look after them. However I live on an island of the West Coast of Scotland and methinks it might be too cold for them here.. :/

From source : ~

“It’s the lesser of two evils, but it’s still evil,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service desert tortoise recovery coordinator Roy Averill-Murray during a visit to the soon-to-be-shuttered reserve at the southern edge of the Las Vegas Valley last week.

Biologists went about their work examining tortoises for signs of disease as Averill-Murray walked among the reptile pens. But the scrubby 220-acre refuge area will stop taking new animals in the coming months. Most that arrive in the fall will simply be put down, late-emerging victims of budget problems that came from the same housing bubble that put a neighborhood of McMansions at the edge of the once-remote site.

Back at the conservation center, a large refrigerator labeled “carcass freezer” hummed in the desert sun as scientists examined the facility’s 1,400 inhabitants to find those hearty enough to release into the wild. Officials expect to euthanize more than half the animals in the coming months in preparation for closure at the end of 2014.

www.washingtonpost.com... 5/42661004-0d8d-11e3-a2b3-5e107edf9897_story.html

NB: I am having probs getting the link to work properly. But I am sure peeps can find it using a search..



Such interesting looking creatures.. They can live to up to 100 years old. Imagine what they have seen in their time.. RIP to the Desert Tortoise. Maybe this will be the next species to disappear off our planet...

Peace

Fluff

That's TERRIBLE!

I'm from the desert southwest and I would often find tortoises when playing in my yard (wasn't really a "yard" but open desert)....I can't understand why they don't just release them in different areas (to prevent overcrowding).

Giving them ALL a chance at life is preferable to genocide

The desert is vast. There is room for them. Very upsetting.

Yea.....give us the funding or we will kill the tortoises. See mugsy? You do as we say or the turtle gets it see.

reply to post by vampira309


I know its awful...!! It makes zero sense in my head. Is it not illegal to murder animals on the endangered species list..? Oh wait thats right the government is above the law...

Something similar to this happened not long ago when 13 armed law enforcement agents went into an animal shelter and killed a baby deer called Giggles because the shelter did not have the right permit...

These peeps are messed up in the head..

This is an outrage now..

These desert tortoises were added to the endangered species list in 1990. In the Endangered Species Act it says;

There are different degrees of violation with the law. The most punishable offenses are trafficking, and any act of knowingly "taking" (which includes harming, wounding, or killing) an endangered species.

The penalties for these violations can be a maximum fine of up to $50,000 or imprisonment for one year, or both, and civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, may be assessed. Lists of violations and exact fines are available through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration web-site.

en.wikipedia.org...



So what in the hell do they think gives them the right to murder these endangered creatures....?!

I'm pretty sure if they put those tortoises in the desert where others of their kind exist that they will do just fine. I don't understand why they didn't just do that in the first place, it sounds like they just wanted to make some good paying jobs for a select group of individuals. Now to slam those who are trying to cut their funding they threaten to kill the animals instead of releasing them. They will kill them because in these people's minds they believe their limited insight is right. There are too many unnecessary jobs created in the name of "Humanity" that are not really needed. It seems like these jobs often just pay someones salaries and wages, stimulating the economy. S&F

I'll tell you one place those damn turtles don't seem that endangered. Fort Irwin and the US Army's National Training Center. I've seen one of those damn things totally FUBAR training at NTC. I remember one time we'd been operating probaly 36 hours straight and finally got a chance to settle down and get a little sleep. Didn't happen because there were a couple of tortoises in the area we were going to set up in. So we moved about a kilometer away from them and lost a couple of hours of rest opportunity in the time it took to move the company sized unit from one AO to another.

This is terrible.
Is there anything we can do?? Surely there are enough reptile rehabs that could take the ones set to be euthanized?

reply to post by Starcrossd

This is terrible.
Is there anything we can do?? Surely there are enough reptile rehabs that could take the ones set to be euthanized?

The only thing we can do is make a lot of noise. If I had the money to go over there I would. I would rescue each and every one and try and rehome them.

There may very well be animal activists in the area I am not sure. But really it appears for many incidents like this the only way to stop it is to physically intercede oneself..

However we can campaign, raise awareness and create petitions. I will link one here. Although I am not sure if it is in T&Cs. Apologies if not...

www.thepetitionsite.com...

reply to post by fluff007


Turtle...err Tortoise soup anyone? At the least, they should sell it to the exotic meat restaurant industry

This is utterly despicable!! Just what the holy hell is wrong our government?? Has every division/branch/sector been taken over by complete wackos??

I don't agree with killing them, but releasing them all back into the wild has it's own set of problems. Apparently a lot of the tortoises are rescued from domestic situations where they have picked up all sorts of bugs from domestic animals - these can be transmitted to the wild ones - therefore endangering the entire population of wild tortoises.

Unfortunately the same thing happened here in South Africa - a story I heard 2nd hand, but when a shelter closed down, all the tortoises were piled in a heap and set on fire. If true, then its unbelievable cruelty,

I have been denied mining permits because there might be desert tortoises in the area (none have ever been seen)

Desert tortoises that have been pets can not be released due to upper respiratory tract disease often found in captive tortoises. but they can be adopted out like they do in Arizona.

www.desertmuseum.org...

I am one of the caretakers of a 55 year old desert tortoise it will likely out live me (i am 62.)

Captive bread or wild caught tortoise's should not be released back into the wild once held in captivity. I don't think releasing them is an option. Cross contamination of diseases, virus's, and parasites is a real danger to the existing wild population.

Adopting them out could be risky also. I few people would still release them into the wild after the adoption. But killing them should not be an option and sounds illegal somehow.

reply to post by hp1229


Lol..!

Well apparently it is very yummy. Although I will pass on that as I am veggie. Good thought though seriously. If they really are going to murder these tortoises maybe they could make soup or give them out to peeps to eat. At least they would not be entirely wasted. Although seemingly it is the Gopher tortoise that is eaten.

Not sure about the poor 'dessert' tortoises...

reply to post by deltaalphanovember




They were set on fire...!? What a horrible way for them to go. Poor things. If they are going to kill things they could at least do it humanely..

I am sure that there is a solution to this. Every problem has a solution. The difficulty is finding it..!

reply to post by ANNED


I did wonder if the captive ones would have diseases that might wipe out the wild ones. Well I do not understand why they don't adopt them out. It seems an awful cruel thing to kill them all..

Wow..! 55..! How long have you had your tortoise..? I always loved them, my friend used to have one and it was fun watching him going about his daily business. Quite amusing creatures...

reply to post by JimboSliceLV


I am trying to think of more solutions...

Well yes I think it is illegal. The desert tortoise was added to the Endangered Species List in 1990. And it is a fine-able and punishable offence to intentionally harm or kill any animal on that list.

So it seems clear to me that the BLM think they are above the law. Surely they cannot murder all those tortoises without being held to account...!? But there is no doubt that no one will bat an eyelid....

reply to post by fluff007


It is clear that the USA must move warships into the area

My phoned ringed today, there was a voice who said:

"We have turtles, give us funding or we kills it."

That's basically what this is about.

Just release those poor souls, you can pick out the healthy ones but Daniel Kahneman says success is about luck and who says the silly ugly turtle named Harry isn't actually the fittest of the bunch?

I can understand the risk of diseases, but otherwise not.