TIMES UNION (Albany, New York) 28 February 06 Turtle seller's case put on hold - Charge will be dropped if he avoids trouble for six months (Colin McDonald)
Albany: The case against an Asian Food Market manager charged with the illegal sale of terrapins will be dropped if he violates no regulations for six months, a city judge said Monday.
Nam Siu was cited on Dec. 30 for violating state regulations designed to protect the marine reptiles after a state environmental conservation officer seized nine of them that were larger than the legal limit at the Colvin Avenue grocery store.
On Monday, City Court Judge Rachel L. Kretser told Siu the charges against him will be dismissed if no other infractions occur over the next six months.
Siu was unavailable for comment, but his market had no turtles for sale on Monday afternoon.
In New York, the diamondback terrapins were once plentiful along the coastline but are now listed as a "species of concern" because of loss of habitat. To protect the young and egg-laying females, terrapins can be sold only if they are between 4 and 7 inches long. When they were confiscated in December, the turtles -- well over 7 inches long -- were taken to the DEC wildlife pathology lab in Delmar for safekeeping during investigation of the case.
State wildlife pathologist Ward Stone examined the turtles there, recorded their size and found them to be healthy. He determined that they were from the Chesapeake Bay by small metal tags on their shells, which had been attached by the Terrapin Institute in Maryland. The organization tracks the sale of turtles and releases them back into the wild. Stone arranged for the nine to be sent back to Maryland.
Back home, they were reunited with 11 other terrapins that had been legally purchased at the Asian Food Market by an anonymous donor who did not want to see them made into soup.
Marguerite Whilden, who runs the nonprofit institute in Edgewater, Md., said the donor did not want to be recognized. All the turtles will be released this spring after being acclimated to the cool brackish waters of the bay.
"They really are in good shape," Whilden said. "One from Albany is one of the biggest I've ever handled."
In Maryland the harvest of terrapins is much larger than in New York. A bill before the House of Delegates would ban the commercial sale and harvest of terrapin turtles in that state.
In New York, Stone has requested that DEC attorneys review existing laws that could be used to change how animals are sold in markets.
"We need to do something about how these live markets are treating species," Stone said.
Stone said animals kept in aquariums at the live markets are often covered with bacterial growths and lesions and die in the tanks. Also, the markets are a source of invasive species which can escape to the wild and wipe out native species.
"But people kept going in there and buying the stuff anyway," he said.
Turtle seller's case put on hold