Posted on Thu, Aug. 05, 2004
Illegal turtle sales thrive in Strand
Many store workers said they didn’t know of the law
The(Myrtle Beach) Sun News
Along with New York’s Chinatown, the Grand Strand is the East Coast’s largest source for illegally sold turtles, according to several turtle rescue organizations.
They say weak and poorly enforced laws allow the Strand’s many beachwear stores to sell baby turtles to tourists who might not know it’s against federal law.
“If you talk to anyone in reptile rescue across the country, and ask, ‘Where are these reptiles coming from?’ said Bonnie Keller, director of Virginia Reptile Rescue, which finds homes for unwanted pets. “They’re going to say, ‘Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.”’
Advocates said the turtle sales were especially hypocritical in a state that issued license plates bearing sea turtles, where bumper stickers reminded people to “Turn out the lights” for marine turtles. Yet little is done for their fresh-water cousins.
But that may be changing.
Last month, Myrtle Beach Police raided five beachwear stores and seized 200 red-eared sliders — which recently found a new home at Alligator Adventure in North Myrtle Beach.
The raid was prompted by the federal government, which received a complaint from a tourist.
Most of the half-dollar-sized hatchlings sold on the Strand never reach adulthood, experts say. If they do, the hubcap-sized adults usually outgrow their aquariums or their owner’s interest. Most are abandoned in ponds or left to die, turtle experts say.
The U.S. government bans the sale of any turtle with a shell smaller than 4 inches. The law was meant to prevent the spread of salmonella to small children, which, officials found, have a habit of placing small turtles in their mouths.
But conservationists say the law also protects turtles from a poor quality of life. Other laws prohibit the removal or introduction of turtles into certain habitats.
Despite the laws and last month’s police raids, beach wear stores outside the city continue to sell the turtles, even advertising them on signs.
Most keep hundreds of the half-dollar sized hatchlings in a fish aquarium. Sold with a small container, the turtles go for $10 to $25.
Nick Dark, 11, bought a red-eared slider last year on his family’s trip to Myrtle Beach from their home in Gibsonville, N.C. Dark said the turtle, named Freddie, had lived about six months.
In their natural environments, red-eared sliders live for decades.
“I wouldn’t get another one,” Dark said while watching the turtles at Atlantis Beachwear store. “He didn’t last so long.”
At Shellworld, just south of the city limits on Kings Highway, more than 100 turtles share a single aquarium. A few turtles prodded a dead turtle at the bottom.
Other items for sale included hermit crabs and alligator claws.
The scene was repeated next door at Pacific Beachwear.
Store employees said they didn’t know it was illegal to sell the turtles, and referred all questions to the shops’ owners, who did not return phone calls.
“I would say that probably half of all the sliders we’re asked to (take care of) come from Myrtle Beach,” said Katrina Smith of the Maryland-based Mid-Atlantic Turtle and Tortoise Society. “I talk to so many people that bought turtles in Myrtle Beach and don’t know what to do with them because they weren’t told.”
She said beachwear stores employees did not tell people how to care for their turtles, or that they could live up to 50 years, or that they would outgrow their tanks.
“If you’re looking for something easy and cheap to take care of,” Smith said. “Get a plant.”
Red-eared sliders are native to the Mississippi River valley. Yet so many have been released by former owners that they are now found in all 48 contiguous states. Hardy and quick to reproduce, the sliders out-compete other native turtle species. Red-eared sliders can be seen in many ponds throughout South Carolina.
Most of the sliders are bred at turtle farms in Louisiana.
Sammy Strange, of Jonesville, La., traps turtles throughout the country and brings them back to a turtle farm. South Carolina is one of his best hunting grounds — he said he’d caught more than 30,000 turtles of a variety of species here. He said he only sold turtles that were legal. Many of them are sold to Asia, where turtle flesh is eaten.
“I’ve been all over this nation,” Strange said. “And I’ve hauled a lot out of South Carolina. There’s a market for them. I could sell every turtle in South Carolina in a week, if I could get my hands on them.”
