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Tortoise breeding endangers Fish & Wildlife jobs
Las Vegas Review-Journal ^ | 18 oct 09 | Vin Suprynowicz

Posted on 10/18/2009 5:15:54 AM PDT by rellimpank

Clark County commissioners voted last week to stop picking up and caring for unwanted pet Mojave Desert tortoises as of the end of the year.

The county has been funding the care of the cast-off tortoises at a 220-acre conservation center operated by state and federal agencies.

About 98 percent of the 1,000 tortoises delivered yearly to the center are unwanted pets, county officials say, and all those extra tortoises have pushed the county's yearly tortoise maintenance costs to $700,000. The county also pays $104,000 a year to a private firm that drives around collecting the critters.

Federal wildlife officials spoke against the county discontinuing the programs, arguing the county should do its part to ensure residents don't dump their pet desert tortoises in ... well, the desert, where they're likely to survive, since that's where they come from.

(Me, I'd bet on them heading right home, just like Lassie, albeit a bit slower. They clearly prefer our suburban buffets.)

The feds contend the tame tortoises might spread a respiratory infection to their wild brethren. In fact, old-timers say the condition, known as "white-eye," has long been endemic among wild tortoises. Where's the control experiment to demonstrate desert releases exacerbate the problem? If some nutrient deficiency contributes, who's to say a few years of yard feeding might not help?

(Excerpt) Read more at lvrj.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: vin
--the weekly Vin---
1 posted on 10/18/2009 5:15:54 AM PDT by rellimpank
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To: rellimpank

Turtle soup for the homeless...coming up!


2 posted on 10/18/2009 5:18:22 AM PDT by vladimir998
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To: rellimpank
all those extra tortoises have pushed the county's yearly tortoise maintenance costs to $700,000. The county also pays $104,000 a year to a private firm that drives around collecting the critters.

Wait a minute - have I just landed in the Twilight Zone?

People buy tortoises (not from the gubmint) and then decide they don't want them.

So the gubmint pays Acme Tortoise Transportation $100k to collect them and deliver them to the Tortoise Ranch.

The gubmint spends $700k to outfit this ranch, but won't sell them ?

Do I have this right?

3 posted on 10/18/2009 5:22:44 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: rellimpank
Is it really any wonder why the country is broke?

Government wasting our time, money and resources in every facet of our lives. There is no end to this idiocy and it is slowly consuming everything.

4 posted on 10/18/2009 5:25:02 AM PDT by DB
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To: vladimir998

sell them on Ebay.


5 posted on 10/18/2009 5:31:47 AM PDT by rovenstinez
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To: Izzy Dunne
A couple years ago my daughter was in Emerson Hospital, in Concord, MA for orthoscopic surgery. While my wife and I were waiting I noticed a stack of four color glossy brochures in Spanish on La Grippe, the flu. They were published by the Massachusetts Department of Health (at taxpayer expense).

At the time the Commonwealth (what the State likes to call itself) was facing severe budget shortfalls, with not enough money to fund cushy jobs for Coupe Deval's payroll patriots. I picked up the brochure, holding it at arm's length with two fingers, I said to my wife, "Where can they cut? Where can they possibly cut one penny, without harming the most needy and helpless members of society?"

Next, they'll come for the most needy and helpless turtles.

6 posted on 10/18/2009 5:33:28 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (The People have abdicated our duties; ... and anxiously hope for just two things: bread and circuses)
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To: rellimpank

all those extra tortoises have pushed the county’s yearly tortoise maintenance costs to $700,000. The county also pays $104,000 a year to a private firm that drives around collecting the critters.


It is not clear but one would assume that $804,000 of spending by the county govt have been eliminated.

The system is working. You don’t get good managment (decision making) until the money gets tight...........


7 posted on 10/18/2009 5:39:05 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple ( Seeking the truth here folks.)
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To: rellimpank

Great article. He nails it.


8 posted on 10/18/2009 5:41:35 AM PDT by microgood
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To: vladimir998

“Turtle soup for the homeless...coming up”!

...with a little grated gummit cheese!


9 posted on 10/18/2009 5:44:26 AM PDT by albie
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To: rellimpank

The only pandemic in this nation is INSANITY. And it comes basically from the Federal government.


10 posted on 10/18/2009 5:47:34 AM PDT by brushcop (SFC Sallie, CPL Long, LTHarris, SSG Brown, PVT Simmons KIA OIF lll&V, they died for you, honor them)
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To: Izzy Dunne; All
-- you can't really buy the desert tortoises as they are "endangered" but they are all over the place and get given away , etc., in spite of the law--(I know of relatives who have transplanted several)--

--as an aside to this , several years ago, either the Forest Service or the BLM installed about thirty miles of burro/tortoise fence along both sides (obviously) of SH 160 (Las Vegas to Pahrump) at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, to keep burros/tortoises off the road---

11 posted on 10/18/2009 5:51:02 AM PDT by rellimpank (--don't believe anything the MSM tells you about firearms or explosives--NRA Benefactor)
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To: All

if you clean them out, cut off the bottom, the tops can be clapped together making a horse galloping sound that would be good background for america going over the cliff


12 posted on 10/18/2009 5:59:40 AM PDT by SF_Redux
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To: rellimpank

When I read these amounts I could only say WHAT!

And I say that a couple times a day when I come across this insanity.

Where I live the Environmental Protection Department decided that this little dam was no longer needed. So at a cost of about 100K it was taken down. The water level dropped a little (the dam actually didn’t do anything remarkable), then went back to where it was before.

The WHAT factor was that DEP people spent 3 or 4 days wading the creek collecting mussels for relocation. The place they were never dried out!

Now how much did that cost the taxpayers? Probably 100 bucks per mussel?

We have really gone over the edge and need to claw our way back to the top of the cliff.


13 posted on 10/18/2009 6:20:32 AM PDT by msrngtp2002 (Just my opinion.)
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To: rellimpank

I’m happy to report that in my municipality tortoise maintenance costs are quite low.


14 posted on 10/18/2009 6:45:48 AM PDT by AndrewB (FUBO)
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To: PeterPrinciple

Well, they might have cut the $104,000 expense of collecting more, but they didn’t say they’re getting rid of the 1000 turtles they already have, so they’re still going to pay for their upkeep.

I wonder how they can tell which turtles were wild vs. which were former pets. If the turtle is on the side of the road, how can you tell where it came from?


15 posted on 10/18/2009 7:19:24 AM PDT by ReagansShinyHair
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To: ReagansShinyHair

“If the turtle is on the side of the road, how can you tell where it came from?”

You can’t fool me. I know that is a trick question.....


16 posted on 10/18/2009 7:50:29 AM PDT by EEDUDE
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