CHARLOTTE OBSERVER (N Carolina) 03 March 08 Conservationists push to limit sale of turtles

Columbia (AP): Animal activists are pushing lawmakers to pass a bill that would limit the types of turtles that could be captured and sold.

Other Southeastern states and even longtime holdout Texas have already passed restrictions on turtle exports.

"We're the last state where it's just open warfare on turtles," said Scott Pfaff, a curator at Riverbanks Zoo. "It's the only animal exploited for food that requires no permit."

An S.C. House subcommittee will take up two bills this week. One would ban the sale of eight turtle species; the other would make it illegal to export any turtles from the state.

Turtle meat is popular in Asian countries.

From 2003 through 2005, more than 31 million turtles were legally exported from the United States, according to an international turtle conservation group. The vast majority of those were raised on aquaculture farms, but 2.3 percent were caught in the wild.

S.C. officials say they don't know how many turtles are captured in the state because of the lack of regulation.

Some say they aren't worried. State Rep. William Witherspoon has been fishing for decades and says he hasn't noticed a decline: "In the summer, I see seven or eight turtles on nearly every log."
Conservationists push to limit sale of turtles

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• NC Press: Push to limit sale of turtles - W von Papineäu, Mon Mar 3 19:34:56 2008