LAS VEGAS (AP) - Clark County will quit picking up and caring for unwanted pet tortoises at the end of the year.
Clark County commissioners voted on Tuesday to stop taking the tortoises and paying for their care at a conservation center operated by state and federal agencies.
But federal wildlife officials said the county should help ensure pet tortoises don't get dumped in the desert, where they can spread respiratory diseases to wild populations.
About 98 percent of the 1,000 tortoises delivered annually to the conservation center are unwanted pets.
The county's cost to run the center has been pushed to $700,000 a year because of stray tortoises. The county also pays a firm more than $100,000 a year to collect the animals from owners who call a 24-hour phone line.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com