Paige Shacklett

The Republic | azcentral.com

The reward for an arrest and/or conviction in the fatal shooting of a desert tortoise in August has increased to $3,100, the Arizona Game and Fish Department announced on Monday.

Since the incident, private organizations and individuals have added $2,650 to the original $500 reward posted by Game and Fish, the department said.

Additional donors to the reward fund include the Arizona Herpetological Association, Desert Tortoise Council, Phoenix Herpetological Society, Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter and its Palo Verde Group, Tucson Herpetological Society, and Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group.

The tortoise, which had been wearing a transmitter since 2010 as part of a study, was observed alive on Aug. 18 during a routine monitoring by department biologists. It was found dead on Aug. 25, and investigators believe the tortoise was killed around Aug. 20 near the Beeline Highway, about 15 miles north of Fountain Hills in Game Management Unit 22.

It has been against the law in Arizona to shoot a desert tortoise or remove them from the wild since 1988.

Anyone with information on the tortoise's death can call the department's Operation Game Thief hotline at 800-352-0700 or visit www.azgfd.gov/thief and refer to case #14-002388.