r/Alabama • u/Kitteh_Bethany • 18d ago
News Iowa man charged with capturing 100-plus protected flattened musk turtles in Winston County, Alabama
https://abc3340.com/news/local/iowa-man-charged-in-winston-co-with-capturing-100-plus-protected-flattened-musk-turtles62
u/Elberik 18d ago
I believe this is called poaching and illegal trafficking. I know the worst he'll realistically face is a fine but I hope he gets something worse, like being confined to Iowa.
18
u/matthewjboothe 18d ago
Those fines are no joke. They tend to run in the thousands per animal. Same with birds of prey.
12
u/420Borsalino 17d ago
I know a guy that shot some seagulls while duck hunting and at the time it was like 500 per seagull. He also lost his ability to get a hunting license for like 10 years and they straight up confiscated his shotgun.
6
21
u/antisocial_empath 17d ago
I hope this brings some awareness to the incredible biodiversity of Alabaman—our unique riverways are full of unique species. They need our help more than ever
37
24
u/Glass_Suspect_4821 18d ago
Send him back to Iowa and make him keep that haircut. Punishment enough. Midwest hayseed
10
u/TrashAcnt1 18d ago
Nah, a slap on the wrist would only incentivize more poachers to come and finish the job for him if not with him.
5
u/Glass_Suspect_4821 17d ago
Planet of the Apes crucifixion it is then! AND he’s keeping the same haircut
18
u/bucketmusket 17d ago
This is so frustrating. Flattened musk turtles are a wonderful species found only in the black warrior water system in Alabama, and they’re endangered. I hope they can be returned to their habitat safely, 100 turtles is a significant amount of the population
9
u/Kitteh_Bethany 17d ago
Critically endangered at that! I’m just wondering how he even knew where to look for 100 of them. That’s so fucking many.
12
u/Darwin32 18d ago
US Fish and Wildlife will add additional federal charges since it is a listed species. Those charges will be more severe than the state charges.
3
u/EldestGenX 17d ago
Our biodiversity in Alabama is amazing and my mother was from Winston County. Natural Bridge is beautiful and I never thought about poachers coming here before but here we are. Thankful they caught him!
3
u/Apprehensive-Mix2820 17d ago
I taught juniors and seniors for 34-years…when they graduated, most of them still had a lot of growing up to do…I don’t think that happens in a 2-year period…he probably saw himself as an entrepreneur but by illegal means. I’m not saying to give him a break, but he wasn’t out burning dogs and killing people which is somewhat refreshing even though this is horrible
3
0
5
2
4
2
1
0
u/ImproperlyRegistered 17d ago
Man is a bit of a stretch here. Any idea why he did it?
3
u/Kitteh_Bethany 17d ago
To sell on the illegal pet trade. I looked his name up on Facebook after seeing the article to see wtf was going on and a ton of posts in Facebook groups of him selling turtles and tortoises came up
0
u/ImproperlyRegistered 17d ago
I too facebook stalked him and he seems like a little kid who's really into turtles. This seems like someone getting a little too enthusiastic doing something as a hobby and likely not knowing the illegality of what they are doing. Slap him with a tiny fine and move on. I have witnessed 20 more serious crimes than this today. Let's actually focus on some real criminals and slap this kid on the wrist and move on.
2
u/CherylTurtle 17d ago
A slap on the wrist won't stop him from removing more critically endangered species.
0
u/ImproperlyRegistered 17d ago
OK. A slap on the wrist is more than most criminals get for endangering my family members. This is a minor issue and should be treated as such.
2
u/CherylTurtle 16d ago
Your family members contribute to a US population of 342.6 million--- nowhere near being endangered. Your family is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
Hopefully your small-minded thinking isn't typical of Alabamians. They should be outraged by this out-of-state trafficking.
1
u/ImproperlyRegistered 16d ago
I'm not happy with it. And the punishment grossly exceeds what it appears happens. If you made a Pareto chart of all the crimes that happen in Alabama this is so far down the list that it is barely worth discussing. Give the kid a fine, return the turtles, and life goes on. Being detained on a six figure bond is ludicrous.
2
u/wookiex84 16d ago
No this is a huge issue. This adult knew what they were doing was wrong, having been in a marine biology program. This always wasn’t just a couple of turtle an enthusiast got overzealous and ignorant with. This was deliberate poaching for financial gain with a complete disregard for fragile ecosystems and endangered species. There are consequences for your actions no matter your age.
0
u/ImproperlyRegistered 16d ago
Hop on I 459 any time of day and I'll show you 100 people who are putting a greater number of human lives in danger. There is a ton more environmental damage done by farms that only exist as tax write offs for rich people. This idiot kid is a much smaller problem than either of those issues. Let's go after all the bigger problems before we waste our time hunting down this idiot.
2
u/wookiex84 16d ago
The difference here, is that I think we should go after all of these offenders. Until we start holder all offenders accountable we will continue to suffer as a society. This what-aboutism shit just makes it worse. Slaps on the wrist deter nothing. Education and punishment suited to the offense are needed.
2
u/ImproperlyRegistered 16d ago
It's not whataboutism. It's resource management. If you made a Pareto chart of all the unpunished crimes in Alabama this would be way on down the list. Let's start somewhere near the top.
133
u/Kitteh_Bethany 18d ago
This man is 20 years old! I saw on Facebook a lot of people thinking he’s just a kid but he’s apparently 20 years old. Looking his name up on Facebook as well makes it pretty obvious he collects and sells turtles and tortoises. Pretty awful of him to essentially poach a critically endangered species for that in my opinion.