Baby turtles for sale: Cops shut down Pittsburgh business, but why is it illegal?
Pittsburgh police busted a business that was allegedly selling turtle hatchlings — which is illegal — authorities posted on Twitter.
In the tweet, officers said that the Humane Animal Rescue took possession of the tiny turtles after authorities executed a search warrant in the 2600 block of Brownsville Road.
The United States made it illegal to sell baby turtles (or small turtles) smaller than 4-inches long as pets in 1975 because they “harbor salmonella, a bacterium that causes a highly unpleasant and occasionally deadly illness in humans,” NPR said.
Before the ban there were an estimated 250,000 cases of Samonellosis in children that were tied to pet baby turtles, The Spruce Pets said.
Why just ban the little critters under 4-inches long? Because children are able to put them in their mouths.
“Four inches was chosen with the thought that most young children wouldn’t try to put a turtle larger than this in their mouth (of course, putting a turtle in your mouth isn’t the only way to be infected with Salmonella),” Spruce Pets said. “However, restricting turtle sales to those greater than 4 inches probably also helps reduce the incidence of Salmonellosis by reducing turtle sales, since hatchlings are much more irresistible than larger turtles. Also, kids are probably less inclined to play with the larger turtles in the first place.”
In the last decade, salmonella infections that were linked to the small turtles returned, which alarmed health officials according to NPR.
“From May 2011 through September 2013, turtle-associated salmonella was linked to eight outbreaks across 41 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, covering 473 illnesses,” NPR said. “Some 28 percent of those sickened had to be hospitalized.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Baby turtles for sale: Cops shut down Pittsburgh business, but why is it illegal?."