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Fire Walk With Me

(38,893 posts)
Mon Aug 26, 2013, 12:10 AM Aug 2013

BLM to kill hundreds of desert tortoises as its conservation center runs out of money

http://www.kingsnake.com/blog/index.php?url=archives%2F1561-BLM-to-kill-hundreds-of-desert-tortoises-as-its-conservation-center-runs-out-of-money.html&serendipity[csuccess]=true

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.

From the Washington Post:

Federal funds are running out at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center and officials plan to close the site and euthanize hundreds of the tortoises they’ve been caring for since the animals were added to the endangered species list in 1990.

(A tad more at the link. Via Idle No More.)
11 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
BLM to kill hundreds of desert tortoises as its conservation center runs out of money (Original Post) Fire Walk With Me Aug 2013 OP
Recommended. (nt) NYC_SKP Aug 2013 #1
Oh no! shenmue Aug 2013 #2
That is horrible. CaliforniaPeggy Aug 2013 #3
I used to see those guys in the Mojave Recursion Aug 2013 #4
I hope something else can be done Politicalboi Aug 2013 #5
How can that be legal? Vanje Aug 2013 #6
If mass slaughter is their 'go to' xxqqqzme Aug 2013 #7
Curious.. Phlem Aug 2013 #8
Damn the BLM defacto7 Aug 2013 #9
WTF is this shit. Joe Shlabotnik Aug 2013 #10
It seems like they could put them up for adoption. I have a CA Desert Tortoise, he's a sweetheart Raine Aug 2013 #11

Recursion

(56,582 posts)
4. I used to see those guys in the Mojave
Mon Aug 26, 2013, 12:27 AM
Aug 2013

When I was stationed at 29 Palms the joke was they were so protected you had to salute them when you passed them.

They're cute little guys, though, and the mascot of several Marine armor units.

 

Politicalboi

(15,189 posts)
5. I hope something else can be done
Mon Aug 26, 2013, 01:28 AM
Aug 2013

How stupid to kill them all. When I was a kid we had a few of these in our yard. I think we had 3 females and one male. His front feet hardly ever touched the ground during mating season.

xxqqqzme

(14,887 posts)
7. If mass slaughter is their 'go to'
Mon Aug 26, 2013, 02:57 AM
Aug 2013

solution, they really cannot be named 'Land Management'. So gas all of them and shove 'em in a ditch is their best answer?

defacto7

(13,485 posts)
9. Damn the BLM
Mon Aug 26, 2013, 03:14 AM
Aug 2013

I would take one myself. My kids would love it. I had a tortoise when I was a kid and it was a great learning experience. My kids would be totally into this. We also live in a desert climate so it would be the right place.

Joe Shlabotnik

(5,604 posts)
10. WTF is this shit.
Mon Aug 26, 2013, 03:32 AM
Aug 2013

The tortoises lost their habitat due to unsustainable development, and then their very lives depend on funding from this unsustainable development. More lofty market friendly solutions.

Raine

(30,540 posts)
11. It seems like they could put them up for adoption. I have a CA Desert Tortoise, he's a sweetheart
Mon Aug 26, 2013, 03:33 AM
Aug 2013

and doesn't even take that much care. My tortoise sleeps more than half the year, I really love him. The thought of them killing them makes me just sick.

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