Tortoises

The Army's National Training Center at Ft. Irwin on Friday suspended its effort to move California desert tortoises off prospective combat training grounds and onto nearby public lands because the animals are being hit hard by coyotes. The first phase of the $8.7-million translocation effort began in March, when about 670 tortoises were airlifted by helicopter out of the southern portion of the desert base northeast of Barstow to new homes in drought-stricken western Mojave Desert areas.

After being sharply criticized for allowing developers to bury gopher tortoises alive, the state wildlife commission has released a plan intended to virtually eliminate the practice and halt the species' decline.

The overnight delivery packages that arrived with regularity from Asia at the Spanish-style home in suburban Diamond Bar were labeled "toys" and "action figures." But inside, authorities said, crawled rare, endangered tortoises illegally plucked from native habitats across Asia, including India.

Bob the Tortoise is still afraid to stick his head out of his damaged shell. And no wonder. The 42-pound African spurred tortoise is in guarded condition at a Montecito animal rehabilitation center after thieves tried to cut his neck and slice his legs from his shell. Ventura police and Humane Society officials on Friday offered rewards totaling $3,500 for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for stealing him from a Ventura backyard and mutilating him.

An 18-year-old local man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of animal cruelty and grand theft in the removal and torture of a 42-pound African spurred tortoise. Jose "Tony" Mosqueda was arrested without incident after a search warrant was served in the 600 block of Cedar Street in Ventura, authorities said.

An 18-year-old Ventura man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of animal cruelty and grand theft in the removal and torture of a 42-pound African spurred tortoise named "Bob." Jose "Tony" Mosqueda was arrested without incident after a search warrant was served in the 600 block of Cedar Street in Ventura, authorities said.

A man accused of participating in an international smuggling ring that brought rare Asian tortoises into the United States was sentenced Tuesday to 6 1/2 months in federal prison. Wai Ho Gin was also ordered to spend another 6 1/2 months in home detention by U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts. Gin, 32, of Diamond Bar had pleaded guilty to smuggling and conspiracy charges in October. In his plea agreement, Gin admitted to working with Umesh Tekani, an alleged accomplice in Singapore, in smuggling the endangered radiated and Indian star tortoises worth more than $30,000.

A volcano on the largest of the Galapagos Islands began erupting, and authorities were evaluating possible danger to plants and animals. Rangers and tour guides spotted lava flowing down the northeastern flank of the Cerro Azul volcano on the sea-horse-shaped island of Isabela. Park official Oscar Carvajal told Radio Quito that as many as four lava flows "have consumed a lot of vegetation" but did not pose a threat to the famed Galapagos tortoises. No people on the island were in danger.

Galapagos National Park officials reported that eight eggs laid by two female companions of Galapagos tortoise Lonesome George are infertile. George, estimated to be 75 to 80 years old, is believed to be the last living member of Geochelone nigra abingdoni. The females belonged to a related species. The eggs were the first from any of George's mates in 36 years of effort by park rangers to produce an offspring.