PHOENIX — The Arizona Game and Fish Department needs you to take a few desert tortoises off its hands.
Each year, the department adopts captive tortoises that cannot be released back into the wild because the captive tortoises can transmit diseases that affect the wild population. Now its wildlife center is full up.
If you’d like to take home a not-so-furry friend, you might want to take a look at the department’s adoption checklist—considering healthy desert tortoises can live 80-100 years.
Under state law, desert tortoises are only available for adoption for permanent Arizona residents.
Once you’ve educated yourself on desert tortoise care, you'll have to fill out an adoption application and send in photos of the tortoise’s constructed habitat.
Email completed applications and photos to TAP@azgfd.gov or mail them to TAP 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ 85086. If you have questions, you can contact the Desert Tortoise Adoption Hotline at 844-896-5730.
The game and fish department said tortoises are typically only adopted from April 1 through Sept. 30 because they hibernate during the cooler months.