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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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Army Seeks New Home for Desert Tortoises

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(Newser) – The Army plans to evict more than 1,000 endangered desert tortoises to expand a tank training ground in the Mojave Desert, the Los Angeles Times reports. Conservationists warn that the last effort to shift the tortoises proved disastrous: Many were wiped out by predators, and others traveled up to 8 miles to return to their old territory.

"Nothing's ever been done on this scale before," one biologist says."Every time the animals recognize that they don’t know where they are, they have some built-in mechanism that tells them to head for home and they make a break for home." The military, which argues that the high death rate in the earlier effort was due to drought rather than relocation, will start moving the tortoises next month if it wins Bureau of Land Management approval.

An endangered desert tortoise sits in the middle of a road in the proposed location of three solar-energy generation complexes in the eastern Mojave Desert.
An endangered desert tortoise sits in the middle of a road in the proposed location of three solar-energy generation complexes in the eastern Mojave Desert.   (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, FILE)
Marines wait for a desert tortoise, endangered and protected from harm or harassment by federal law, to move off the road .
Marines wait for a desert tortoise, endangered and protected from harm or harassment by federal law, to move off the road .   (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
The military plans to move the Mojave Desert's flagship species, the desert tortoise, to make room for tank training at the Fort Irwin military base.
The military plans to move the Mojave Desert's flagship species, the desert tortoise, to make room for tank training at the Fort Irwin military base.   (AP Photo/Arizona Game and Fish Department, George Andrejko, File)
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5 comments
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schmidtkoff
Aug 6, 09 7:35 AM CDT
can't the army expand elsewhere? why do we always have to tamper with habitat and the species that inhabit? this is just wrong. Reply
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+7
Yourself
Aug 6, 09 10:35 AM CDT
friggin morons sometimes. between this and the sonar issues of the Navy, don't they understand that to some extent or another they're having major impacts on the wildlife. and don't we have enough tank training facilities in this country? do we really need more space??? Reply
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schmidtkoff
Aug 6, 09 10:43 AM CDT
yeah, why can't we do this on mars,or the moon? where no discernible life exists? let's screw up the oceans, deserts etc. in order to play out war games.
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So_Cal_Larry
Aug 6, 09 2:13 PM CDT
The literal stupidity of the U.S. Military in these matters just boggles the mind. These turtles have been doing this trek for millions upon millions of years. These matters are built into the DNA of these turtles. And, now, once again, the Army thinks a simple move will change things for these turtles, and they will adjust to the changes that the Army believes appropriate. Get real, Army. Reply
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+3
cognitivefilter
Aug 6, 09 5:52 PM CDT
to think that the tortoises won't return.... STOP DISPLACING ANIMALS FOR THE 'sake' OF THE MILITARY! this is ridiculous and awful Reply
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