FEDERAL – Mojave population protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 (as amended), sections 7, 9 and 10. Section 7 requires federal agencies to implement conservation programs and ensure that their actions do not jeopardize the survival of a listed species or result in the destruction or adverse alteration of critical habitat. Section 9 prohibits ingestion. Clause 10 deals with habitat conservation planning. Includes California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona north of the Grand Canyon. Catching is defined as “harassing, wounding, chasing, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, catching, catching or gathering or attempting to engage in such activity.” ARIZONA – There is no state authority that regulates habitat change. Desert tortoises that preceded 1. January 1988 without a special permit, can be possessed, transported, multiplied and donated (R12-4-407). The possession limit under this regulation is one desert tortoise per person. Laws of the State of Arizona: 1. Prohibit the importation or transportation, sale, trade, or release into the state.2. Prohibit the exchange, sale or offer for sale of wildlife or parts of wildlife that have been illegally stolen during a closed season.
There is no open season for collecting or hunting turtles. CALIFORNIA – Desert tortoises can only be owned by virtue of a permit issued by the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. The Department may grant a licence to possess a desert tortoise, provided that the turtle was legally acquired and possessed before March 7, 1973. (a) The Department may require the applicant for a permit to provide proof of the legal acquisition of a desert tortoise. (b) Applications for turtle permits must be submitted on ministry forms and may be submitted to Gopher TurtleGopherus polyphemusThe Gopher turtle lives in dry, sandy highlands such as oak sand hills, scrub, shallow pine forests, and coastal dunes of the southeastern United States. It is the only turtle in the east of the country. Human activities have eliminated gopher turtles from a significant portion of their historical range, but they are still found in Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, with the majority of the remaining population living in Florida. They are protected by federal law in Alabama counties west of the Mobile and Tombigbee rivers, Mississippi and Louisiana. The western portion of the range, which is in Nevada, is protected by the Nevada Revised Statute (NRS 501.100) and the Nevada Administrative Code (NAC 503.080). Agassiz`s Nevada desert turtles are considered wild animals (NRS 501,097) and belong to the people of Nevada (NRS 501,100). Only gopher turtles and desert tortoises are native to the United States and all protected by state or federal laws. Collecting, possessing, selling or transporting is illegal without a special permit.
Regarding the possession, purchase or sale of non-native and/or imported turtles, in almost all cases they fall under the turtle rules and regulations found here on our “Turtle Laws” pages. There are rules and regulations that benefit both species and humans. We have added rules related to the gopher turtle, as well as brief descriptions of these rules. Violation of this article. Unmarked turtles are confiscated by the department. No person may import, export, take, possess, buy or sell in that State any species or part or product thereof which the Commission has identified as endangered species or species, or attempt to do so. The penalty for violating any of the provisions is a fine of up to five thousand dollars ($5,000) or imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year, or both fines and imprisonment. (a) Definition. As used in this section, the term “turtles” includes all animals commonly referred to as turtles, turtles, pond turtles and all other animals of the order Testudinata, class Reptilia, with the exception of marine species (families Dermochelyidae and Chelonidae). ALABAMA – Threatened. Greatly reduced by historical abundance; distributed locally only in a few protected areas.
Population of the West (LOUISIANA; MISSISSIPPI and Mobile, Washington and Choctaw counties in Alabama) are classified as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and therefore protected by the federal government. In Alabama, Gopher turtles are found in Choctaw, Washington, Mobile, Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Clarke, Crenshaw, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Dale, Escambia, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike and Wilcox. Small populations are found in Autauga and Macon counties, where they have been introduced by humans. The people of the East are subject to state law that makes it illegal to take, capture, kill or attempt to capture, capture or kill, possess, sell or trade or offer gopher turtles without a special license to sell or trade. SOUTH CAROLINA – It is illegal to take, possess, transport, import, export, process, sell, offer for sale, ship gopher turtles to South Carolina or receive them for shipmentGEORGIA – The gopher turtle cannot be kept as a pet in Georgia, regardless of its origin or morphology. The Agassiz Desert Tortoise is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. According to this law, the capture of the Agassiz desert tortoise is prohibited.
“Taking” means harassment, harm, persecution, hunting, shooting, injury, killing, capture, capture or gathering, or attempting to engage in such conduct (Section 3 (19) of the Federal Endangered Species Act, 1973, as amended). Possession of an Agassiz desert wild tortoise is prohibited as possession is included in the capture or assembly. In addition, it is illegal to supply, receive, transport, transport or ship threatened or endangered wildlife by any means and in the course of commercial activity (50 Code of Federal Regulations 17.21(e) and 50 Code of Federal Regulations 17.31(a)). In addition, 50 Code of Federal Regulations 10.12 defines wildlife as any wild animal, living or dead, including, but not limited to, wild mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, molluscs, crustaceans, arthropods, celentirates or other invertebrates, whether bred, hatched or born in captivity, including all parts, products, eggs or descendants thereof. The federal Endangered Species Act protects turtles in the Agassiz Desert in California, Nevada, Utah and, for populations west of the Colorado River, in Arizona. Agassiz Desert turtle populations east of the Colorado River in Arizona are not currently protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, but are protected by state law (see below). All turtle species are listed under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and divided into appendices. For species listed on Schedule B, no certificate of sale (called a permit) is required for purchase or sale. For all species listed in Schedule A, a certificate of sale, called a “transaction certificate referred to in section 10”, is required.
In Arizona, Agassiz desert tortoises are protected by the Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) 17-306, which states that it is illegal to release wild animals (including Agassiz desert tortoises) into Arizona without prior permission from the Arizona Game and Fish Department. ARS 17-309 sets the penalty for a violation. According to Arizona Administrative Code R12-4-402, it is illegal to import, export or sell live wildlife, including Agassiz desert tortoises. It is illegal to breed Agassiz desert tortoises in captivity or export an Agassiz desert tortoise from Arizona. In Utah, the Agassiz desert tortoise is protected by Utah Administrative Rule (R657-53), which prohibits the removal or harm of desert tortoises from the wild and the possession, breeding or importation of desert tortoises. The release of captive desert turtles into the wild is illegal in Utah. Desert tortoise – Gopherus agassizii, Gopherus berlandieri, Gopherus morafkaiThe laws and regulations for the desert tortoise differ depending on the state, location in the state, and whether the desert tortoise is a captured or wild animal. In most places, the skeletal remains of the shell are also protected by law and can only be collected with permission. People can be punished for picking up, harassing, shooting, injuring, killing or buying a desert tortoise under existing state laws. Populations classified as threatened by the federal government are also protected by the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973.