Threat to Tortoises

I had to read “Desert Tortoises Threatened With Euthanasia Plan” (Part A, Aug. 30) twice to be sure of what I was seeing. We have become accustomed to developers bulldozing their way through hillsides, trees and the objections of local residents--but killing tortoises? Legally? That is just too much.

For 200 million years these gentle, intelligent animals have walked the Earth. They have survived dinosaurs, volcanoes and ice ages only, it seems, to be doomed to extinction by the insensitivity and greed of Homo sapiens.

Though officially a “protected species,” these misunderstood creatures can seemingly be unearthed at will and left to die. When frightened, a wild tortoise will discharge its entire water supply, often causing it to die of dehydration. Since these are coldblooded creatures, destruction of burrows will leave nowhere for tortoises to shelter from the desert sun, resulting in overheating and a lingering death.

Can anyone be naive enough to imagine that developers will meekly take uprooted animals to the animal care shelter and cough up $40 apiece when they can more easily kill them “accidentally” during excavation? Animal lovers everywhere should be outraged at this farce. CHRISTINA MACIAS

San Juan Capistrano