(Asian) Turtle demand raises concerns (could disappear in Iowa, etc)

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald-AP

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Surging demand for turtle meat in Asia could jeopardize the future of native Iowa shellbacks, according to reptile experts and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Turtle prices have spiked in response to increased demand from Asia, where the highly prized reptiles have been nearly wiped out. The lucrative market in turn has increased trapping pressure in Iowa and other states where trapping is permitted.

Few states offer less protection for turtles than Iowa, according to the Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity, which in 2009 asked officials in Iowa and seven other states to ban the commercial harvest of turtles.

"Freshwater turtles do not have a reproductive rate high enough to sustain themselves under commercial harvest pressures," said Collette Adkins Giese, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20111120/NEWS01/711209896#turtle-demand-raises-concerns

[vminfla]

1. A not-uncommon problem

Reptiles are slow to breed, take a long time to reach sexual maturity and are easily harvested. With no protections, it is an easy way for unscrupulous people to make a quick buck for a little bit of work.

[jwirr]

6. The turtles in our area also tend to bury their eggs in a gravel pit

across the road from the lake and get run over on their way back. My family stops along side the road and move them off the road whichever way they are heading. That is kind of a labor intensive breeding program.

[Mojorabbit]

19. We have a gagillion snapping turtles in our lake

which is why no baby ducks make it to maturity but I would not want them hunted to the brink of extinction.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

2. I love chelonians

I have a pet desert tortoise (gopherus berliandieri). He's nearly 40 years old. They're wonderful animals, very sweet and affectionate, not as dumb as some people might think. I'd never dream of eating it. Even if I had a taste for turtle meat, I don't think I could live with myself to know I'm helping to destroy a species of animal that was on earth (and in many cases remains unchanged) since before the age of the dinosaurs, just to have a good taste in my mouth.

[freshwest]

3. Your comment reminds me of Plutarch's quote:

"But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh, we deprive a soul of the sun and light and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy." -Plutarch

[certainot]

4. great quote, thanks for that

[xocet]

12. One quotation of Plutarch deserves another:

"...Yet if, for heavens sake, it is really impossible for us to be far from error (F) because we are on such terms of familiarity with it, let us at least be ashamed of our ill doing and resort to it only in reason. We shall eat flesh, but from hunger, not as a luxury. We shall kill an animal, but in pity and sorrow, not degrading or torturing it — which is the current practice in many cases, some thrusting red-hot spits into the throats of swine (997) so that by the plunging in of the iron the blood may be emulsified and, as it circulates through the body, may make the flesh tender and delicate. Others jump upon the udders of sows (6) about to give birth and kick them so that, when they have blended together blood and milk and gore (Zeus the Purifier!) and the unborn young have at the same time been destroyed at the moment of birth, they may eat the most inflamed part of the creature. Still others sew up the eyes of cranes (7) and swans(8), shut them up in darkness and fatten them, making flesh appetizing with strange compounds and spicy mixtures. ..."

From Penelope at UChicago

[freshwest]

13. That video Earthlings wasn't far off the mark, although most complaints are about factory farming.

It's troubling that the killing is not done with regret or necessity anymore, but for faster profits. This is going to get totally gross any minute now, I can see that.

Some (actually illegal aliens) workers at a packing plant were so disturbed by what was happening where they worked slaughtering cattle, because they were not at all dead when they came down the line to be eviscerated. These were men who were in the business of slaughter and accepted it as part of the circle of life, so to speak, could not bear this. They took in hidden cameras to show what they were being forced to do in order to maximize profits and there was an uproar for a time. But for all we know, they're still doing it.

We're all seen these horror clips, and many of us have seen things going on closer to home, and with the internet, worldwide, to decry the inhumanity of mankind to himself and his fellow sojourners on this planet. Many of the greatest minds have resisted conventional belief systems on diet. We may be forced to lower our standards, but on the spiritual path, some say it will never work. And I'm going to leave this sad topic with a few more quotes:

"As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower beings, he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love" -Pythagoras

"I saw deep in the eyes of the animals the human soul look out upon me. I saw where it was born deep down under feathers and fur, or condemned for a while to roam four-footed among the brambles I caught the clinging mute glance of the prisoner and swore that I would be faithful." - Henry David Thoreau

One condemns while the other shows empathy, and here we are on this planet together, largely confused and ignorant, driven by so many passions we can hardly reflect as they once did.

Another quote, that makes one wonder about the advertisements to have us consume what we do, from this human rights activist:

“If they took all the drugs, nicotine, alcohol and caffeine off the market for six days, they'd have to bring out the tanks to control you.” - Dick Gregory

Bon Appetit

[BiggJawn]

5. If the idea gets planted that turtle meat cures impotence...

bye-bye turtles...

[valerief]

9. Why would the Viagra people allow that? nt

[Vincardog]

10. NO no no eating turtles CAUSES impotence

[BiggJawn]

11. There ya go! Let's spread the word

Turtle meat makes your dick shrivel up like a turtle pulling its head back into its shell...

Very bad joss...

[libinnyandia]

7. Maybe farmers could build turtle confinement facilities. Of course

the production time from egg to adult would take a bit longer than pigs or cattle. Maybe they can develop faster maturing turtles:o)

[valerief]

8. Let them eat frog legs! nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. poor turtles

[lbrtbell]

15. Hey, Asians, grow your own damned animals

We raise cattle for our food, we don't steal animals from other countries.

There are civilized Asian nations, of course, but others are just disgusting. They decimate all sorts of endangered animal species for their stupid "medicine" and for food.

Learn to farm! :mad:

[quakerboy]

18. We do?

Seems to me one of the big problems every time we have a ground beef recall is that they have mixed together meat from a dozen or so countries, so the contaminated product of one farm is mixed in and spread out to ruin tons of the stuff. A lot from south america, in particular.

[alp227]

16. Maybe those turtles became ninjas in Asia

[Robb]

17. Ever-so-slightly related video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsWX8JtQrPU