Lost Desert Tortoise in Residential Area (CA)

[jUMPSu1t]

Hello! My friend called me today to say she’d found a tortoise crossing the road in her highly-developed, gated community. For the moment, she’s keeping the guy in a large cardboard box with water and paper towels as a substrate (she has no reptiles herself, so we’re doing our best). He’s about 12 inches long and dark brown all over, and though we use male pronouns, we don’t actually know his sex; we’ve pinned him as a desert tortoise, but that’s up for debate as well. He doesn’t seem to be presenting any health issues, and he’s currently standing under his own power in the box, though he does look quite confused. My friend couldn’t find a burrow around the neighborhood, so we’re presuming if he’s wild, he’s travelled quite a ways from wherever he originally lived. We plan to find his original owner if he has one, so we posted about him on their local Facebook group, but what do we do if nobody steps forward to claim the tortoise? We can’t just let him live in a box, so should we go to a vet? The department of wildlife (or whatever it’s called)? Let the guy go in the nearest wooded area?

Let me know your thoughts. I’ve attached an image of the dude.

 

[SinLA]

If its a desert tortoise (@Yvonne G @Tom ) they need to report it to you shelter and it will get get turned over to wildlife. You can also contact https://www.tortoise.org/ the local California Tort Club which works with dept of wildlife and handles rescue CDTs. If he is not a CDT we can discuss next steps...

Where (what region of LA) does your friend live. Like if they are in Santa Monica, its not wild. If they are in Palmdale, maybe... (?!?) I'm in Burbank, FYI...

 

[jUMPSu1t]

If its a desert tortoise (@Yvonne G @Tom ) they need to report it to you shelter and it will get get turned over to wildlife. You can also contact https://www.tortoise.org/ the local California Tort Club which works with dept of wildlife and handles rescue CDTs. If he is not a CDT we can discuss next steps...

Where (what region of LA) does your friend live. Like if they are in Santa Monica, its not wild. If they are in Palmdale, maybe... (?!?) I'm in Burbank, FYI...

My friend lives in Altadena, on the hills. Thank you so much! I’ll forward the post to my friend.

 

[SinLA]

Oooof, i have no idea if there are wild CDTs in Altadena (wouldn't think so, but don't really know)- so I will handily defer to @Tom who might know

Good news, if it is a CDT and they take it to Pasadena Humane Society they will get it to the right people, its a pretty good one...

 

[Tom]

Its not wild. Its someone's escaped pet. They are probably looking for it now.

 

[jUMPSu1t]

Nobody from my friend’s community has stepped up to claim the tortoise, even after we’ve emailed everyone we could. How can we expand our search scope, and when should we call it in?

 

[SinLA]

contact PHS, it’s where someone in the area will go looking for a lost pet.

 

[TammyJ]

In the meantime, give him a nice long soak in a tub of lukewarm water as he may be quite dehydrated! Good luck finding the right path to his rehabilitation!

 

[jUMPSu1t]

We’ve found the dude’s owner! He escaped from someone a few doors down from my friend’s, maybe under the fence of the backyard. My friend has walked him over, and hopefully he’s now safe at home. He looked no worse for wear at drop-off, besides being nervous and probably a little hungry, as he refused to eat while in the box.