U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officials say they have to curb the backyard breeding of desert tortoises because the growing population of unwanted pet tortoises diverts resources from efforts to preserve the species in the wild.

Mike Senn, assistant field supervisor for the Fish &Wildlife Service in Nevada, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that it can be “a really difficult issue” to explain to people. He said simply breeding more tortoises won’t save the species if not enough is done to improve and protect natural habitat and address threats in the wild.

Captive tortoises threaten native populations because they can carry diseases with them when they escape or are released illegally in the desert.

The first 1,400 Olive Ridley turtles arrived to nest Thursday at the Chacocente Wildlife Refuge on the Central American country's southern coast, regional military commander Jose Larios told the Nuevo Diario newspaper.

They were followed by hundreds more on Friday and Saturday, said Larios, whose troops are guarding a 1,500-meter (one-mile) stretch of beach where the turtles lay their eggs.

The scientists search the area after dark, using torchlight to find the natterjacks.

The toads are then measured and photographed.

James Silvey of RSPB Scotland said: "The beautiful thing about natterjacks is they each come with their own individual fingerprint, and that's in the form of the big warts and the yellow stripe on their backs.

"Each of the toads we photograph today could potentially live for 10 or 15 years and if we photograph it again we'll know that individual was found here at Mersehead in 2014.

Boophis ankarafensis, as the scientists have dubbed the amphibian, is bright green with red speckles red on its head and back. It was found on the Sahamalaza Peninsula in the Ankarafa forest, from whence its name comes.

The frog’s call—a series of high-pitched trills, followed by three clicks—differs slightly from related frog species, which stop at a pair of clicks. Its body size and coloration are also slightly different; genetic analysis proved that it is indeed a separate species, according to a study describing the animal published today in the journal ZooKeys.

Although the Sahamalaza-Iles Radama National Park, where the frog is found, remains protected in name, deforestation is rampant in the surrounding forests, the researchers wrote.

The genes encoding these proteins have been duplicated at some point in the past and one of the resulting copies has been restricted to the venom gland, where natural selection has acted to develop or increase toxicity. This differs from the long-standing hypothesis that venom proteins are “recruited” from body tissues, in the sense that these proteins are already expressed in the venom or salivary gland prior to becoming toxic.

‘I really couldn’t remember how many chest compressions should be given before a rescue breath, but he was blue so I just did it. I was really amazed it worked.’

Working for what she said felt like a half hour, she held the motionless Del and rubbed his belly, then hung him upside down to clear water from his mouth and breathed air past his teeth.

Before long, he opened his eyes and started to move.

Turtle Conservancy - Slash from Turtle Conservancy on Vimeo.

The United States Coast Guard has released video showing a crew saving a huge sea turtle from a dangerous, tangled situation off the New Jersey coast.

The video shows Coast Guard members from Station Cape May, New Jersey, and an official from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigatine untangling the leatherback turtle from fishing gear on Saturday, August 9, 2014. The Coast Guard estimates the turtle weighed about 800 pounds.

As soon as the turtle was free of the gear, it swam away, appearing unharmed.

The snakes are small, but they are aggressive, the couple said. They are especially worried for their toddler son, Bentley.

"Our two-year-old is terrified of them," Hisler said. "We've only found one or two in his bedroom so far. Thank God."

So far, Scott and Hisler have caught 48 snakes - a number that increases daily, even though pest control has surveyed the home three times.

The number of deaths caused by snakebites in the country has reached nearly epidemic proportions therefore there is a need for setting up a multi-state cooperative for extracting snake venom, said renowned herpetologist Romulus Whitaker.

Whitaker, who was instrumental in setting up the Irula Snake-Catchers Industrial Cooperative Society (ISCICS) in Tamil Nadu, pointed out the drawbacks in the present system of venom collection.

"There is a lot of variation in venom. The same snake, the Russell's viper is found in four corners of India, but its venom composition varies according to where it is found. But the anti-venom produced from a Russell's viper in Tamil Nadu may not be good enough for a person bitten by a Russell's viper in West Bengal or Punjab," Whitaker told TOI.

The new milestone is important because it means reptiles are as diverse as birds, which are generally considered to include around 10,000 species. Uetz predicts that reptiles will soon surpass birds given the rate of recent discoveries, making it the second-largest vertebrate group after fish which contains over 32,000 species.

Globally, there are around 5,500 mammal species and 6,400 amphibians currently.

But despite being among the most diverse vertebrate groups, reptiles are largely unrepresented by the IUCN Red List, which determines whether or not a species is endangered. Approximately all mammals and birds have been evaluated by the IUCN, and over 90 percent of amphibians have been evaluated. In contrast, only 43 percent of reptiles have been evaluated (the number is even worse for fish sitting at 35 percent).

Snapping turtles originally come from the Americas, but turned up in Japan as pets in the 1960s, Kyodo news agency reports. Some turtles must have escaped to the wild, as there were an estimated 1,000 turtles roaming the Chiba Prefecture 10 years ago. The turtles have been classed in Japan as an invasive species and are eating up fish, bird and weed stocks, and chewing their way through fishermen's nets.

Fire personnel at the scene rushed to aid Espinosa when they "discovered a small ball python snake wrapped around the defendant's neck," which they promptly removed and secured, according to the police report.

"Third Precinct officers responded and determined Espinosa had stolen the snake from [a Garden City] PETCO," according to the report, which also stated that Espinosa was in possession of marijuana at the time of the accident. The snake is sold at Petco for $89, a store employee said.

Espinosa was treated and released from a hospital, and the snake was returned to its home at the store, police said.

The roaming reptile, named Clark, was reunited with its human family on Sunday after it was spotted near the intersection of Sixth Street and Norwood Place, in the southeastern part of the city, at around 1 p.m. Saturday and retrieved by police.

Someone cornered Clark until officers arrived, Alhambra Police Department Sgt. Esther Rodriguez told ABC News in a Sunday interview.

"Since he was kind of heavy, two officers picked him up, put him in our trunk and transported him to our station," where he was placed in a kennel until Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control arrived shortly afterward, Rodriguez said.

Tip 1: Avoid pesticides

Slug bait is harmful to snakes, other wildlife, children and pets!

Tip 2: Imitate nature

Avoid monocultures of plants that are planted in straight lines.

Tip 3: Use stones

Move objects like stones and slate carefully. They may be providing cover for your snake friends.

Reticulated pythons are the longest snake species in the world.

So it took a team of eight handlers to hold the snake in order that it could be examined.

The huge reptile, named JF, is thought to be one of the biggest snakes in Europe - at 7m (23 feet) long, and weighing approximately 60kgs.

As well as ensuring the snake is healthy, the check-up was part of a cardiological research study.