Tortoise Talk
What started as an idea has bloomed into a passion to save as many as we can and find wonderful homes.
Tortoise Acres Success Story.
Tortoise Acres was founded in March 2016 as an idea. We started rescuing turtles and tortoises in April. Our first adoption went to his new home in October 2016. As of January 2021 we have adopted out, to loving families, over 500 turtles & tortoises. We have 80-100 turtles and tortoises in the sanctuary with 55 of those having monthly sponsors who pay for their care. We fund raise and use our adoption money to feed the rest and other expenses it takes to run a rescue. Due to medical issues they can't be adopted out.
We started as a private rescue and got our 501(c)(3) nonprofit status March 2018. We were donated a 2006 Chevy truck to pull our evacuation and education trailer. With the bad fires in California this was a much needed trailer to evacuate these babies. We also use this trailer to go to schools and other locations for field trips to educate and let the kids enjoy these turtles and tortoises.
We do not foster out any of our turtles & tortoises. They all live here at the sanctuary or our adoption center where we personally can make sure they are properly taken care of. Our Adoption Center is a commercial building located 2 miles away from the sanctuary. It is open to the public Monday through Friday 8 AM to 1 PM to meet the turtles & tortoises available for adoption.
We have received rescues from 30 states.
We are partnered with Shasta County Probation Department. Their traffic offenders can come and do community service hours instead of paying their ticket. We love our volunteers who help at the sanctuary and the adoption center. To sign up to volunteer call Katie at 530-941-0544. We have accomplished so much in a short time.
We can’t wait to see where the next five years will take us. We are excited to partner with Global Turtle Family which are our counterparts to the south in Northern California. We are also partnered with San Diego Turtle & Tortoise Society in Southern California. The Humane Society's call us whenever they get a turtle or tortoise in. We have the whole state covered. We will take turtles & tortoises from any state and find them wonderful homes. California is a wonderful warm state where these shelled friends thrive!
Here’s a story that will blow your mind! Here at Tortoise Acres we are very against breeding. It is in our adoption contract that forbids breeding. Last year we got a female Sulcata’s into the sanctuary. She died a few months later from unknown causes. We suspected she might have been egg bound. She had never dug a hole to lay eggs or anything so we weren’t really sure. That morning she was eating & that night she was dead. We buried her in our giant horse manure pile. Because it stays so warm in the fertilizer her body decomposed quite rapidly. That nice warm manure was perfect for hatching two of her eggs that must’ve been in her. We found Chance 1200 feet from the manure pile and Lucky 5 days later 5 feet from the manure pile. I want you to meet Lucky and Chance. We have looked for a week and cannot find any more so we are hoping that these are the only two there are. They will stay in the sanctuary as a teaching tool. This just shows why there are so many Sulcatas in the world. Luckily these guys will never be unwanted. 🐢
