Tortoise Group, a Las Vegas nonprofit that handles pet desert tortoise adoptions in Nevada, is heading back to Northern Nevada this week to finalize some more adoptions and host workshops on winter preparations for pet desert tortoises.
More than 100 pet desert tortoises, which cannot be released into the wild, are still without homes in the Las Vegas area. More than 50 tortoises were recently sterilized at a clinic in Las Vegas. Nine of these tortoises are heading to Reno, Carson City, Fallon and Hawthorne for adoption this week, and the adoptions will be followed by three Tortoise Group meetings, which will focus on tortoise care in the cooler winter months. Due to the pending change in seasons, these will be the last adoptions this year.
The first workshop will be from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Nevada Humane Society, 2825 Longley Lane in Reno. Another session will be from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Sunday in the Bonanza Room of the Carson City Community Center, and the last session will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. the same day at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, 111 Sheckler Road in Fallon.
The decision to expand Tortoise Group adoptions to Northern Nevada was taken because of a large number of pet desert tortoises requiring homes in the Las Vegas area.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is assisting with funding for the efforts.
For more information, call 702-739-7113, or email info@tortoisegroup.org.