CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE (Crystal River, Florida) 30 August 05 Kidnapped cooter returns to park (Amy Shannon)

Photo at URL: Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park manager Art Yerian holds a male albino cooter hatchling. A park ranger and patrol personnel retrieved the rare reptile Saturday in Stuart after detectives said it was stolen from the park and sold at a trade show for $3,000. (Amy Shannon)

If only turtles could talk, this one would tell quite a shell-shocker.

Not much bigger than a quarter, a rare albino cooter rested safely in the palm of Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park manger Art Yerian on Monday — a simple homecoming after clocking more than 500 miles on the road.

Yerian said a park ranger and patrol personnel retrieved the critter Saturday in Stuart, nearly a month after Department of Environmental Protection detectives said a man stole the donated hatchling from the park.

"We never really dreamed someone would come in and stick it in their pocket," Yerian said about the cooter, which was later sold at a trade show for $3,000. "(The man) had his hand in the cookie jar."

Detectives said Duane Pate Holloway, 28, of Lecanto, had only been working with the park's reptiles for four hours after signing up to become a volunteer, then walked off with the cooter. Once park rangers realized the cooter was missing Aug. 2, Holloway became a suspect because of his unusual interest in the cooter's value during his first few hours at the park.

When detectives questioned him, Holloway denied any knowledge of the cooter. But on Aug. 19, Holloway's coworker at Fancy's Pets in Crystal River, came forward and said Holloway told him he bought the turtle for $20. The man said he took possession of the cooter and took it to Glades Herp Inc., a Bushnell-based company, which sells reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates.

Glades Herp owners then took the cooter to the National Reptile Breeders Expo in Daytona Beach that same weekend and sold it to a Stuart cooter breeder for $3,000.

"(The cooter) is very common," said Glades Herp manager RobRoy McInnes, who did not know the reptile was reported stolen until a Chronicle reporter called his company last week. "But an albino cooter is one in a million. Once you get one and breed it, all the babies are albino."

Detectives caught up with Holloway and arrested him Aug. 20 at the pet store on a charge of grand theft. He was later released on $2,000 bond.

Yerian said he's pleased to see the turtle returned in perfect health.

"It could have gotten lost or died in transport," Yerian said. "Fortunately, for the turtle, the people dealing with it all specialize in reptiles."

Yerian said the albino cooter is the only documented male, as all other reports of albino cooters have been female.

"We're not really in the business of breeding turtles," he said. "But (the Stuart breeder) said to call him in three years if we'd like to breed it."

The park had the good fortune of getting the cooter the first time in early July when a woman donated it after finding it out in the wild, Yerian said. Park officials were housing the cooter inside an aquarium on top of a counter in the handling area of the park's reptile house at the time of the theft.

Now, it's under lock and key.

But, park officials hope to have it on display in the reptile house later on this week — as soon as they can relocate some toads and incorporate them into the children's bullfrog display.
Kidnapped cooter returns to park

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