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Black Market For Illegal Turtles Here In Baltimore

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Jun 10, 2009 6:26 pm US/Eastern

Black Market For Illegal Turtles Here In Baltimore

Reporting
Gigi Barnett
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― A black market on the streets of Baltimore is emerging for baby red-eared slider turtles.



Gigi Barnett reports police say more and more people are buying the illegal turtles, not knowing that they can carry salmonella.



At this stage, the red-eared slider turtle is the perfect hand size pet.



"When they're small like this they're cute," says Michael Lathroum, a Maryland Department of Natural Resource police officer.



That is until the turtles grown as large as 10 to 12 inches long.



That's why Department of Natural Resource officers are finding more of them on the black market.



"Most recently, I had an individual up in Bel Air selling them out of his parent's house. He was advertising them on Craigslist," Lathroum said.



In the last two weeks officers seized more than 100 hatchling slider turtles all being sold illegally.



"It seems to be the current flavor of the week. There's a lot of money to be made with a small investment," said Lathroum.



Officer Lathroum says suspects buy the slider turtles for about $1 each from farms in Florida and Mississippi where they're native.



"They come up here and to other states where they sell them for $10 to $15 a piece, so they're making a very large profit margin off of these turtles," he adds.



Suspects are also finding an appetite for the turtles here in Maryland.



"They're cute, they're relatively inexpensive," says Bob Anderson, Director, Bureau of Animal Control. But he adds the turtles could eventually be more trouble than they're worth.



"Don't become part of the problem, report them. Whatever you do, don't buy one, you can be up for a fine for possessing one", adds Anderson.



DNR officers say they caught one suspect in the 1700-block of Pennsylvania Avenue selling the turtles out of a van.

The turtles are illegal in Maryland because they aren't native and that many times they're known to carry salmonella.



"Small children like to put everything in their mouths, including small turtles. They might kiss the turtle. If they don't wash their hands properly or well after they've handled the turtle," adds Lathroum.



That's why the state made the turtles illegal back in the 70's, but folks who buy and aren't aware of the adult stage, animal workers say dump the slider turtles into state streams.



"There's a concern there that because they do get larger than a lot of our native turtles, they also compete with our native species," says Lathroum.



Animal shelter workers will take the slider turtles to the Mid-Atlantic Turtle & Tortoise Rescue.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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