Reunited Male Reptile in Norco, CA 92860 (ID: 73531575)

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Tom R.

1 week ago

Bump for greater visibility!!!

Teresa W.

1 week ago

Shared on LOST and FOUND TORTOISES (and TURTLES) of SoCal

Janell C.

1 week ago

Let me check what’s being reported about that. It’s mostly theft, and it’s hitting sulcatas hardest because they’re the ones people actually keep as backyard pets around here. Steve, the hundred-and-fifty-pound guy from Hidden Valley Parkway in Corona, got out on October thirteenth and was last seen riding in the back of a white truck with two men. There’s also one missing in Temecula from just a couple days ago. The bigger driver is that LA has become a smuggling hub. The LA Times ran a piece last week about how LAX and the ports of LA and Long Beach are major exit points for turtles and tortoises headed to Asia, where rare species fetch serious money. The Turtle Conservancy up in Ojai has taken in over four hundred rescued animals in the last six months alone, and their director says they’re at a breaking point. On top of that, there’s a separate pipeline moving Mexican tortoises north through San Ysidro in coolers and hidden compartments, sometimes fifty or more in a single seizure worth around fifty-five thousand dollars. So you’ve got three things stacking: backyard escapes that turn into thefts, opportunistic -and-grab for the swap-meet or Craigslist trade, and organized trafficking feeding overseas demand. Sulcatas are especially targeted because they’re hardy, they get huge, and thieves figure a two-hundred-pound animal is easy to flip for cash before the owner even notices it’s gone. One thing worth knowing if you ever spot one — sulcatas can live over a hundred years and they roam for miles when they escape, so a “missing” tortoise might just be a lost one still walking.

Jackie P.

1 week ago

Reunited Reptile in Norco, CA 92860

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