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Posted by Maxx MacLeod on April 28, 2003 at 19:57:01:

In Reply to: Pet Store Illegal Action? posted by dragonshoe on April 28, 2003 at 18:18:04:

dragonshoe-- You'd have to call your state department of natural resources to determine if this is legal. But more than likely, this is completely legal. In my state (Minnesota), you can pay 75 bucks and get a commercial turtle trapping license and you can catch unlimited numbers of unprotected species. Then you are legally permitted to sell them for food or you can legally sell them wholesale, to pet stores. At the end of the year, you get a form from the DNR that you have to send back which documents how many and what species you harvested. As you know, the laws protecting reptiles in the United States (unless an animal is threatened or endangered) are not very good. Personally, I don't have a problem with people harvesting a few turtles for the pet trade. A far more serious problem is certain groups of people that harvest massive numbers of turtles and then ship them overseas for food. In Minnesota, during the 2001 turtle trapping season, 32,000 Painted Turtles were commercially harvested (as reported by the MN DNR to our state legislature)! Some ended up at pet stores but the majority ended up in Chinese meat markets...which is completely legal but very, very sad. --Maxx

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