Tortoise Group has written a pamphlet, Desert Tortoises, Adoption and Care.  It is available, free, from public libraries and animal hospitals throughought the County.   Additional information on the care of captive desert tortoises may be obtained by contacting Tortoise Group at (702) 739-8043, 873-3500 or 648-5190, or by visiting our website at:  http://www.tortoisegroup.org/ We urge teachers not to allow the school to be a place for distribution of unwanted hatchlings.  Parents need to be involved and be given the opportunity to accept or refuse the responsibility of having a tortoise.  Children cannot prepare the proper outdoor area and follow through with adequate care.   A responsible person neither gives nor receives a tortoise until the place where it will live has been completed to meet the needs of the tortoise.  These needs are immediate and may involve life-saving features that cannot possibly be readied immediately.   As per direction from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, tortoises found  wandering in developed areas, unlike those found in the desert, must be turned over to the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center Holding Facility (593-9027). Tortoise Group will help with the adoption of those tortoises when yards are ready.  The Center will also take unwanted pet tortoises of all sizes.