Public interest in the recent unlawful shooting of a protected desert tortoise used as part of a research study has raised the reward being offered for information that leads to the case being solved.

In addition to the $500 being offered through the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Operation Game Thief, private individuals and organizations including the Arizona Herpetological Association, Desert Tortoise Council, Phoenix Herpetological Society, Sierra Club, Tucson Herpetological Society and Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group have pledged and will reward an additional $1,850 in the event of a conviction.

Game and Fish is asking for the public’s help in solving the killing of the desert tortoise near the Beeline Highway, about 15 miles north of Fountain Hills in Game Management Unit 22.

The juvenile tortoise, which had a transmitter affixed in 2010, was observed alive on Aug. 18 during routine monitoring by the department’s nongame biologists, but was found dead by the biologists on Aug. 25. Investigators believe the tortoise was killed around Aug. 20.

“The public outcry over this case is exactly what you’d expect when a non-threatening animal like a tortoise is shot multiple times and killed, and the years-long research study it was part of is compromised,” said Josh Hurst, the Operation Game Thief coordinator for Game and Fish. “The department has been conducting research for years to monitor and conserve desert tortoises to help keep them off the federal Endangered Species List.”

Anyone with information about this killing can call the department’s Operation Game Thief hotline toll-free at (800) 352-0700 or visit www.azgfd.gov/thief and refer to case #14-002388.

Callers may be eligible for a reward from the various entities that have pledged reward money in this case. All calls may remain confidential upon request.