Merthyr's Sharebook 

My Dear Friends and those of you I don't yet know,

Unfortunately I'm not 'au fait' with setting up news stories, or starting petitions, so as a matter of urgency I have had to take the following text from news I've just received from the Center for Biological Diversity regarding the fate of Californian desert tortoises. There is a link at the bottom, which I beg you all PLEASE to log onto and sign the petition - we and the tortoises have very little time. I can't think of anything else I can do to help save these poor creatures:

"Last year, over 250 desert tortoises died after a disastrous attempt by the Army to relocate hundreds of the imperiled tortoises to make way for a tank warfare training area in the California desert. Now, the Army and the Bureau of Land Management are rushing forward with a plan to move over 1,100 more tortoises, and have provided the public a tiny, 15-day window of opportunity to comment on this misguided proposal.

The federally threatened desert tortoise population cannot withstand yet another ill-conceived and hastily implemented translocation. Please write to the Army and Bureau today asking that they extend the deadline for public comment for an additional 60 days and carry out a full environmental review, including a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement, before moving forward with any further translocations. If tortoises must be moved, translocation must be designed to discourage them from making the perilous journey back to their homes on the base, and to ensure that no tortoises will be moved in a drought year when their survival is already compromised. Assurances must be provided that overall tortoise deaths from the translocation will be significantly reduced.

Visit http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27758 to take action."

Thank you ALL so much!! If I knew how to put it on the news page, I would have done it that way......

Love and hugs to you all, dearest friends!!

Merthyr.