Marines airlift 1,100 desert tortoises

[jpak]

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/military/the-intel/sd-me-marines-tortoises-20170414-story.html

More than 1,000 desert tortoises are taking a trip with the Marine Corps this month.

The Marines are using helicopters to relocate the tortoises to another part of the Mojave in make way for an expansion of desert training grounds.

During the two-week long process, the hubcap-sized tortoises are being loaded into plastic containers, which are then stacked and strapped to a helicopter.

Their new home will be swaths of federal land to the north and southeast of the Twentynine Palms base, Marine officials said. The areas were deemed far enough away that the tortoises wouldn’t migrate back to the original habitat.

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[Wellstone ruled]

1. Great news.

[miyazaki]

2. On a side note Tortoises are getting plowed by tourist driven cars

in Joshua Tree National Park, which is not far away. Been quite the bounty in the desert due to the rains. But the Joshua Trees have been dying off for decades now.

[Thor_MN]

3. McCain is using Marine One?

[MoonRiver]

4. Awesome!

[Greybnk48]

5. Is it childish of me to think of Earnest Goes to Camp?

I can't quit laughing. "Death from above!"

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. Good thing it was the Marines, and not WKRP (in Cincinnati)