Desert Tortoise Faces Threat From Its Own Refuge
Source: ABC News and AP
For decades, the vulnerable desert tortoise has led a sheltered existence.
Developers have taken pains to keep the animal safe. It's been protected from meddlesome hikers by the threat of prison time. And wildlife officials have set the species up on a sprawling conservation reserve outside Las Vegas.
But the pampered desert dweller now faces a threat from the very people who have nurtured it.
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.
"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.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/desert-tortoise-faces-threat-refuge-20060609
Isn't the sequester just perfectly wonderful?
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I live in California but mine is the smaller Texas desert relative of the giant California type, a gopherus berlandieri. I found mine when it was walking down the middle of the street in a suburban tract near the beach, obviously a pet that escaped from its yard. I've had it for years and years now and I wouldn't give it up for anything. It's my best friend and makes me laugh with its antics. It looks almost exactly like this one:
Pampered? 
