Shelled Warriors Forums
 

Go Back   Shelled Warriors Forums > Turtles and Terrapins > TESCO SELLING TURTLES IN CHINA

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 14-03-2009, 07:01 PM   #21
Kirkie
Senior Member
Adult
 
Kirkie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 4,887
Default

Hmmm. That's what I thought. Welcome to the wacky world of CITES.
Kirkie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-03-2009, 09:55 AM   #22
Geomyda
Senior Member
Adult
 
Geomyda's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Surrey
Posts: 2,094
Default

The South East region of the BCG have a talk at their spring meeting on the 4th April, by Mr Tim Luffman from CITES. I am sure questions over the interpretation of these rules will be of great interest, and hopefully provide some clear guidance.
Geomyda is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-03-2009, 12:36 PM   #23
Kirkie
Senior Member
Adult
 
Kirkie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 4,887
Default

From Timesunion.com Friday 20th March



State puts bite on cold-blooded operation


Authorities say 18 people charged after probe into large-scale poaching of reptiles, amphibians


ALBANY — It took months for undercover state conservation police officers Daniel Sullivan and Richard Thomas to be trusted within the tight-knit world of illegal "herping" — shorthand for poaching of reptiles and amphibians.



But once inside, the pair uncovered a thriving black market for some of New York's most-threatened wildlife that stretched across eight states and into Canada and as far as Germany and China. In one instance, a dealer bragged that he had made $100,000 in a year by selling thousands of snapping turtles to a Louisiana turtle farm that "laundered" the transaction before shipping the animals to China for food.

In another case, a poacher who had been taking venomous copperheads — which can sell for several hundred dollars — from the Mohonk Preserve near New Paltz showed Thomas a home video of the swelling and discoloration that spread through his arm after being bitten by one of the snakes.

And a reptile dealer from Canada was arrested in a Niagara Falls parking lot after he smuggled in 33 endangered massasauga rattlesnakes in the door panels of a minivan in exchange for Eastern timber rattlesnakes. Timber rattlers are a threatened species in New York, where populations are limited to certain rocky ledges around Lake George and parts of the Catskill Mountains.


On Thursday, state officials revealed a three-year undercover investigation dubbed Operation Shellshock into the trafficking of protected species — turtles, snakes and salamanders — through the Internet and at herpetological shows where collectors buy, sell and trade animals like baseball cards.


So far, 18 people have been charged with 34 felonies, 31 misdemeanors and more than 2,000 violations, with investigators documenting more than 2,400 illegal sales. About 400 live animals are being held as evidence.


Most arrests were made within the metropolitan New York area and lower Hudson Valley, although a Ballston Spa man, Sean Kirk, 34, was among those charged with a misdemeanor, Kirk allegedly sold three Eastern box turtles native to New York to Thomas for $550.


Kirk, who could not be reached for comment, has sold reptiles over the Internet under the name of Sean's Exotics, and has used the Web site herps4sale.com. His most recent site has been taken down.


Penalties for illegal wildlife sales range from up to 15 days in jail and a $250 fine to a $5,000 fine and a four-year prison term. Illegal sales have been traced to New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, and Hawaii.

"A very lucrative illegal market for these creatures does exist, fostered by a strong, clandestine culture of people who want to exploit wildlife for illegal profit," said state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis at a news conference at DEC headquarters into the state's largest undercover wildlife sting
Since 2006, it has been illegal to buy, sell, collect or possess any of the state's native reptiles and amphibians, although permits allow for limited educational uses. Earlier laws were less comprehensive and varied from species to species.

During the investigation, DEC worked with wildlife officials from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida as well as the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Canada's national environmental agency and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

Thomas said the probe began in early 2006 after a complaint from SUNY researchers, who reported 30 spotted turtles, some embedded with radio transmitters as part of a four-year study, suddenly vanished. Those turtles have never been found.
Sullivan and Thomas started looking at "herp" sites on the Internet to learn language and customs. By August, they were attending shows in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. ''We got a lot of face time, so people would know us,'' said Thomas, a lieutenant with DEC's Bureau of Environmental Crimes.

Their work was to lead them to places as varied as a remote pond on Long Island, where a poacher allegedly took out a thousand turtle eggs in one day, to the crowded streets of Chinatown in New York City, where turtles were illegally sold.
Thomas passed himself off as a vendor of high-end reptile and amphibian photographs, which encouraged some collectors to show him their illegal animals. The photographs are now evidence.

"We bought, we sold. And there were a few times that I got frisked to make sure that I was not wearing a wire,'' said Sullivan, a DEC investigator. He was wearing a wire when one poacher said it would be impossible to get caught with illegal animals, because DEC could never mount an undercover sting.

Sullivan said another poacher bragged that he had built a room in his home just to incubate turtle eggs, and he could handle up to 20,000 eggs at a time.
"He told me that he had sold $100,000 worth of hatchling snapping turtles, tax free, last year alone," said Sullivan.

Kirkie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-03-2009, 12:39 PM   #24
Kirkie
Senior Member
Adult
 
Kirkie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 4,887
Default

By the way the Sean Kirk mentioned is no relation
Kirkie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-03-2009, 01:58 PM   #25
Geomyda
Senior Member
Adult
 
Geomyda's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Surrey
Posts: 2,094
Default

Again, this will make for interesting questions at the forthcoming meeting, on the 4th April 09, where, Tim Luffman is talking about Wildlife Crime?
I just hope the American investigators could give the same attention to the activities of China town, in New York, and I believe other US Cities. The attached release shows graphic pictures of North American Eastern Painted Turtles being sold, live in the food market, apparently in New York:
http://www.careforthewild.com/files/...0608_final.pdf
Geomyda is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-05-2009, 11:05 PM   #26
moxtikelpor
Member
Egg
 
moxtikelpor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Bath
Posts: 55
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by wolverine View Post
When I went to china town NY they had some turtles for sale and they had a big bin full of frogs it makes me mad that they abuse these animals and it even pisses me off more that they are doing it in my country and getting away with
i just found this on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO4KRlTZh7E
moxtikelpor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 24-05-2009, 05:19 PM   #27
Geomyda
Senior Member
Adult
 
Geomyda's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Surrey
Posts: 2,094
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by moxtikelpor View Post
i just found this on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO4KRlTZh7E
A very depressing sight. The Diamond back Turtles are a unique group of species from North America which deserve better protection.
Like so much of the Fauna of the Western world, for many "First known, when lost"?

Last edited by Geomyda; 24-05-2009 at 10:26 PM.
Geomyda is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 25-05-2009, 11:10 AM   #28
moxtikelpor
Member
Egg
 
moxtikelpor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Bath
Posts: 55
Default

is it legal in America that this goes on?
moxtikelpor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-09-2009, 02:30 PM   #29
Fozz
Junior Member
Egg
 
Fozz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Manchester City Centre
Posts: 29
Default

Don't they believe that golden thread turtles have medicinal properties too??......
Fozz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-09-2009, 05:20 PM   #30
Geomyda
Senior Member
Adult
 
Geomyda's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Surrey
Posts: 2,094
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fozz View Post
Don't they believe that golden thread turtles have medicinal properties too??......
I think you mean Golden coin Turtle (Cuora trifasciata). The plastrons of these ground down as a Chinese medecine is believed to cure forms of Cancer.
That said, most fresh water Turtles are eaten in southern China in particular.
Geomyda is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:20 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.