GB TIMES (Tampere, Finland) 19 September 13 Exotic turtle found in Henan, expert advises to eat it
A farmer who discovered an exotic turtle while working at a field in Henan Province was told by a local wildlife expert to simply kill and eat it.
The man, surnamed Wang, came upon the six kilogram weighing turtle when he was ploughing a field in Baofeng County on September 15, reported China News Service.
Dong Zhaowei, director of the Zhengzhou Municipal Bureau of Forestry Wildlife Rescue Center, identified the reptile as an alligator snapping turtle. The species is native to North America, but a rare sight in China.
Dong suggested that the farmer should not release the turtle back into the wild, but he should either give it to local wildlife authorities or just kill and eat it.
The wildlife expert added that the meat of the snapping turtles is very tasty, causing outrage among netizens.
Alligator snapping turtles are on the list of threatened species in several states in USA, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
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