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| Messages 1 - 15 of total 15 in this topic |
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Aug 25, 2013 - 06:14pm PT
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They should at least try to find homes for the former pets in states where they are not indigenous.
I just imagine some nitwit Vegas PETA fan throwing open the pen at night and yelling "Run like the wind!"
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Bad Climber
climber
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Aug 25, 2013 - 07:02pm PT
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Yeah, why the hello don't they load 'em up in some 4X4's and take 'em out into remote desert areas and let them loose? Freakin' idiots. Also, why is the budget some damn huge for looking after a few very slow moving reptiles? They can't run the place on a quarter of a million dollars a year? Seriously? This is also a story of stupid gov't waste. I bet you could get a small group of environmentalists to run the place on a fraction of what it has been using. Just don't expect to retire at 50 with a phat pension and full bennies. Jeez.
BAd
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BBA
climber
OF
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Aug 26, 2013 - 11:01pm PT
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They like turtle soup in China. Can't we send them there? What's the dif between caring for cows and then killing them?
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Aug 26, 2013 - 11:05pm PT
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Yeah, why the hello don't they load 'em up in some 4X4's and take 'em out into remote desert areas and let them loose?
Well, if you actually READ THE ARTICLE, you'd know they don't let some of them loose because they are too diseased or incapacitated to survive in the wild in their current condition. The healthy and able ones will be freed into habitat.
Having actually worked on DT habitat conservation projects, this saddens me greatly. But it does a disservice to the cause when you just start popping off over a sensationalist headline like this thread title, without understanding the actual siutation you're taking about.
They can't run the place on a quarter of a million dollars a year?
Do you know what building maintenance costs, utility costs, research, employees, etc cost? Do you know what the total outlay to employ one scientist is, when you include total cost of compensation (not just bottom line salary..benefits, etc)? 250k is a lot in your checking account. It is diddly squat when you're actually running an operation with physical infrastructure and professionals. 1400 animals, 220 acres, multiple angles of reasearch going on. Yeah, you can do that on a shoestring.
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Aug 26, 2013 - 11:59pm PT
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Hmmm. Ya got this: "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."
...and ya got this: "It's the lesser of two evils, but it's still evil," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service desert tortoise recovery co-ordinator Roy Averill-Murray during a visit to the soon-to-be-shuttered reserve "
I guess it's fine for the feds to kill endangered species whenever they want. Too bad that they can't even find a single person who would be interested in relocating them so they will kill them all. Your tax dollars at work.
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TrundleBum
Trad climber
Las Vegas
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Aug 27, 2013 - 04:09am PT
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Bumpity bump ~
Interesting issue and arguments both ways.
But bottom line, I think it shows just how lame our FED GOV is.
Why don't they do it right and declare a 'War on Tortoises'!
Then they will have enough budget to build a fully terraformed colony on the moon for them.
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Aug 27, 2013 - 09:35am PT
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Dave asked: "Any possible way I can get a pet tortoise out of this?" Sorry Dave, clearly releasing them into the wild or giving them to concerned folks who would get them into solid habitat is not in the cards because they have to kill them. They don't have any money. If only they had the money, they would not have to kill the hostages....errr, tortoises. This has been an effective means to extort $$ratch before.
Oh, such drama.
That is all.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Aug 27, 2013 - 10:27am PT
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Meh...Totally stupid.. Why is even legal to euthanize an endangered species ?? I get that a lot of them can't survive in the wild but I fail to see why they can't find homes for some of the healthy ones. I wonder if it's impossible to rehabilitate them for the wild. There are desert tortoise clubs with people who actually know how to take care of these things BTW.
Why the f*#k is so expensive to run that shelter BTW? They sleep 4 months out of the year and eat lettuce and live in the dirt.
I have friends with a breeding pair, they have something like a ..8 year waiting list of people who want a baby one. I guess people reevaluate a 100 year commitment once they are adults.
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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
Nevada City
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Aug 27, 2013 - 11:13am PT
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bureaucratic economic bullshit and the turtles get the shaft? not cool one bit, and yet oh so typical of our times.
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Chewybacca
Trad climber
Montana, Whitefish
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Aug 27, 2013 - 11:19am PT
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I have a simple solution.....Tortoise Racing. People in Vegas will bet on anything, set up a track, hire a bookie, and let'em run, er crawl or whatever tortoises do.
I assumed it was illegal to own a DT without a special permit. Guess I better stop assuming so much.
Hope you are right Ron.
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beaner
Social climber
Maine
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Aug 27, 2013 - 11:25am PT
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Too bad that they can't even find a single person who would be interested in relocating them so they will kill them all.
They aren't going to kill them all, only the ones that are too diseased or otherwise unsuitable for release. Most of them are eligible for release, but a few hundred are not.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Aug 27, 2013 - 12:04pm PT
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You don't have to be freaking Nostradamus to be able to see far enough into the future to know you'll have to factor care and feeding into your budget if you take on the responsibility of caring for an animal.
Most of us were taught that as kids.
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Aug 27, 2013 - 12:25pm PT
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Wow!
One intelligent response thus far (elcapin...). Almost a new low for ST.
The Desert Tortoise is fairly long lived and slow moving. Until recent times, it was common for people driving through the desert to pick them up and put them in the family sedan. Put on a diet of lettuce (not good for them) and exposed to cats and other sources of desease, these "pets" developed various ailment (primarily resipatory).
If returned to the wild they are likely a source of infection and have a small chance at survival.
An unfortunate situation created by a thoughtless act of capturing a wild animal. But, go ahead and blame the government -- it only continues the legacy of a thoughtless populace.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Aug 27, 2013 - 01:34pm PT
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What? It wasn't intelligent to suggest that the former pets could be re-adopted in non-indigenous states?
Betting on them in Vegas might not be so lame either.
The males make MMA look like a pansy sport.
They battle to the death!
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