Posted on 08/27/2013 5:30:07 PM PDT by kevcol
The sheltered existence of hundreds of desert tortoises will come to a sad and tragic end in early 2014.
A lack of funds at The Desert Tortoise Conservation Center, located outside Las Vegas, Nevada, will cause the sanctuary to close its doors and euthanize about half of its 1,400 tortoise residents, reports the Associated Press.
The facility was created in 1990 when the overdevelopment—namely McMansions, solar plants, and strip malls—of the turtles' native habitats caused the critters to be put on the endangered species list.
The center previously upheld a $1 million annual budget, mostly fueled by "raking in funds from fees imposed on real estate developers who chose to build on the tortoises' habitats," reports the AP. But the housing market collapse in 2008 caused that fund pipeline to dry up. And, as a result, The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) simply can't allocate any more money for another year.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Excellent! That makes a great deal of sense. Somebody with a sick agenda obviously cooked up the AP article that started this thread. Glad to know it is false.
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