Shell Game
A woman and man were arrested Friday for keeping turtles in a confined space.
Court papers say Lesha Howard and Willard Hopkins were sitting on milk crates on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE when they were approached by cops. Howard and Hopkins admitted they were vending without a license, filings say. Besides selling cologne, wallets, and make-up products, they were peddling turtles, say papers.
The cops say the turtles were in a "small crate" and that there were 36 of them: "The crate was so small that the turtles had no room to move and were stacked on top of each other." The two, who also face charges for vending without a license pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Saturday. Their next hearing is scheduled for April 22.
A recently released report from Turtle Conservation Coalition says turtles are suffering. The study warns that many of the world's turtles and tortoises will become extinct in a few decades. Part of the problem is turtles being sold as pets and food: "We are facing a turtle survival crisis unprecedented in its severity and risk."
Photo by Clearly Ambiguous Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0
6:37 pm
WOW!, what a gee-wiz story that was, it must be a slow news day, no I don't think so!
9:15 pm
have they finally stopped the illegal turtle-selling up at DCUSA as well?
8:12 am
If it ain't a free range turtle, I ain't buyin'
9:17 am
Turtles are not a "species", but rather there are many species of turtles, as well as tortoises.
10:59 am
It is illegal in all 50 states to sell baby turtles - those uner 4" in shell length. Those quarter-sized turtles can reach 6-11" in size - as big as a dinner plate - and need at least 55 gallons of space when full grown. Some will need at least 125 gallons when full grown. They can also live 20-60 years. There are dozens for adoption from rescues in the area. Plus, any reptile can carry salmonella, and retpile sellers should be warning buyers of the danger and how to prevent contamination.
7:28 am
Let's not forget that a 3-week old baby in Florida died from salmonella poisoning from a baby purchased from a flea market. Do you think these vendors were warning buyers about the possibility of salmonella? Or how to care for the animals?
4:47 pm
It's good to see the DC police taking action against people selling turtles illegally. The health department is busy enough dealing with HIV and other diseases and shouldn't also have to deal with turtles spreading salmonella. Animal rescue people also have their hands full without the added burden of 36 additional turtles. (In most cases like this, the turtles can't be released to the wild unless it's possible to determine exactly where they came from and whether they've been kept in sanitary conditions, because they can spread disease to wild populations.)