...in custody.

As an animal lover I find this pretty fucked up.

Quote :

"Decrease Increase Man acquitted of endangerment, but his animals died in custody 300 of 500 turtles seized from Steve Santhuff died By Andria Simmons When some of Steve Santhuff’s rare and endangered turtle collection was returned to him last week, it should have been a victorious moment. But Santhuff is far from happy. While the Georgia Department of Natural Resources has given back 128 of about 500 turtles seized from Santhuff in 2005, along with 14 hatchlings that were birthed in the interim, more than 300 of the turtles the amateur herpetologist lovingly tended to for two decades have died. The state puts the death toll at 309, but Santhuff claims the number is 362. The other turtles were whisked away only to be returned maimed or deformed. “They are not beautiful turtles anymore,” Santhuff said. “It’s almost sad to look at them. They are scarred and pitted, and one of them had their leg bit off by an otter.” When asked about the turtle deaths and ailments, state DNR spokesman Rick Lavender said “because of the pending litigation we can’t respond to questions about the type of quality of care of the turtles.” State and federal wildlife officers confiscated turtles from Santhuff, 37, of Lawrenceville, as part of a criminal investigation into allegations that he illegally possessed them. A Gwinnett County jury acquitted Santhuff of criminal charges in February 2008. But the state still has not returned all the turtles — including three different species of map turtles valued at between $100 and $350 each, and several alligator snapping turtles, Santhuff said."

http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/man-acquitted-of-endangerment-127592.html

[Edited on September 11, 2009 at 3:15 PM. Reason : add more info]

9/11/2009 2:58:33 PM

Fail.

9/11/2009 3:00:29 PM

I didn't read the whole article just the quoted text. It sounds to me that the government is responsible for the deaths because for the two decades that they were in his custody they were fine? or did i read that wrong.

9/11/2009 3:10:48 PM

sorry, read it again. I added more info. Basically they took his animals b/c they didn't think he was taking proper care of them. And while in their custody hundreds of them died, with more disfigured or maimed.

9/11/2009 3:16:14 PM

that's terrible... the turtles were probably thrown into an animal prison which was the equivalent of human prisons, cold and cruel, and dehumanizing.

Quote :

"“because of the pending litigation we can’t respond to questions about the type of quality of care of the turtles.”"

quality of care? hang these bastards

[Edited on September 11, 2009 at 6:54 PM. Reason : ]

9/11/2009 6:54:09 PM

ye ai can promise you the government wasnt giving them the care they received by the knowledgeable caretaker

thats a fucked up situation, i can only imagine what kind of holdings they were placed in. maybe a transition setting as they were trying to shuffle them off to a zoo or park or evaluate them for release into natural habitat


nonetheless im sure they sat on their heels and you cant do that with living creatures

^im willing to assume they didnt do anything truly atrocious to the animals, id imagine they boxed animals up with no idea of their individual dispositions etc. Im sure any reptile or animal owner knows that disposition is not a specific trait, its different for each individual animal

[Edited on September 11, 2009 at 7:22 PM. Reason : d]

9/11/2009 7:19:26 PM

who gives a crap...they are turtles. Come back when the article is about dogs...then I'd care

9/11/2009 7:58:48 PM

I hope he sues the pants off of them. Screw Georgia

9/11/2009 10:12:39 PM

someone embed plz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMNry4PE93Y

9/12/2009 1:32:15 PM

9/12/2009 3:35:29 PM

they must have given them to the Shredder to take care of them

9/12/2009 7:01:44 PM

how awful

9/12/2009 7:33:51 PM

poor turtles

9/12/2009 9:16:19 PM

is this some sort of mocking public health care?

9/12/2009 10:09:53 PM

ILLEGAL TURTLES

that sucks

9/12/2009 10:19:04 PM

i have this theory.

anything that the government tries to do, it ends up doing the opposite of.

http://www.ajc.com/news/lawsuit-in-a-nutshell-127667.html

[Edited on September 13, 2009 at 8:15 AM. Reason : more background for ya]

9/13/2009 8:11:12 AM

Quote :

"they must have given them to the Shredder to take care of them"

A++

9/13/2009 9:07:45 AM

Quote :

"According to the court records, Santhuff received $400 from a Fish and Wildlife Service agent in September 2004 to make an illegal purchase of turtles as part of a federal undercover operation into the trade. He said he met two men at a McDonald's in Dawsonville the next day to buy 12 black-knob sawback map turtles. One of the men was Steve Seitz, a Georgia DNR officer. Santhuff said he reported the purchase to federal authorities and to the state attorney general's office, expecting an investigation into corruption among wildlife officials. But federal and state agents used that purchase as part of their evidence to obtain a search warrant against Santhuff. Nine months later, in July 2005, the agents served the warrant and seized his collection. Officials charged Santhuff with 21 violations of protected species laws."

Quality government right there.

9/13/2009 9:11:46 AM

Quote :

"is this some sort of mocking public health care?"

i was wondering the same thing. between the president's speech to kids and the health care thing, the media has done a great job of dumbing down and polarizing the general public for the past month

9/13/2009 10:27:32 AM

im guessing they didnt return the map turtles and the snappers because its illegal in many states to keep native turtles. this story still makes me sad every time i read it

9/13/2009 9:11:13 PM

So, guy has 500 turtles, all are alive and in good health.

Government seizes turtles, charges man with endangerment.

Man is acquitted, but government care of turtles results in 300 of them dying.

Why isn't the government being charged with endangerment?

Oh yeah, that's right. They're the government. They don't have any accountability whatsoever to their fuckups. And you fucking liberals want to give them more of our money and more power over our lives.

9/14/2009 7:37:13 AM

^

and

Quote :

"According to the court records, Santhuff received $400 from a Fish and Wildlife Service agent in September 2004 to make an illegal purchase of turtles as part of a federal undercover operation into the trade."

W
T
F

Seriously? We're cutting teachers pay but we have a fucking undercover investigation into TURTLE trade?

9/14/2009 8:41:58 AM

the black market turtle trade is right behind drugs in the amount of illegal money involved

the price for a kilo of galapagos would blow your mind

9/14/2009 2:57:38 PM