So I get an email from a trucker who lives in Visalia (about 45 minutes from me). He was driving home through the Mojave desert and saw what he thought was a 'gator' (truckers refer to pieces of tire as gators) along side the highway. Recognized that it was a tortoise and backed up a quarter mile to take a look at it. It had been hit by a car and was bleeding and not moving, so he picked it up and put it in the truck. (He knows NOW that that was illegal)
He brought it to me and was going to turn it in, but after talking to me has decided to take it to a vet and see if he can nurse it back to health. BUT! It's not a desert tortoise. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it. It looked like a Texas tortoise, but it didn't have the exaggerated dip on the plastron, plus it has a nuchal scute. It was full grown, but small like a Texas tortoise. So my guess is that it is a cross between the two, Texas/desert.
I told him that what he did was against the law. The tortoise would surely have died if he hadn't picked it up, and it still might.
It's really too bad that the laws about taking tortoises from the wild aren't a bit better advertised.
He brought it to me and was going to turn it in, but after talking to me has decided to take it to a vet and see if he can nurse it back to health. BUT! It's not a desert tortoise. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it. It looked like a Texas tortoise, but it didn't have the exaggerated dip on the plastron, plus it has a nuchal scute. It was full grown, but small like a Texas tortoise. So my guess is that it is a cross between the two, Texas/desert.
I told him that what he did was against the law. The tortoise would surely have died if he hadn't picked it up, and it still might.
It's really too bad that the laws about taking tortoises from the wild aren't a bit better advertised.