“Chapter 370, and by the United States Endangered Species Act of 1973. Briefly, these laws state that: “No person may take, harass, harm, pursue, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or attempts to engage in any such conduct to marine turtles, turtle nests, and/or turtle eggs.” Any person who knowingly violates any provision of the act may be assessed civil penalties up to $25,000 or criminal penalty up to $100,000 and up to one year imprisonment.”
Hopefully it is much more than that for beating the guy up. I would say it is 100 times worse (at least), but I imagine getting stuck in prison for five years is probably even hoping for too much.
The 16 year-old will get a slap on the wrist. (For the turtle I could almost see that, but for helping beat somebody up - maybe he will serve some harsh punishment)
They all need their crime to follow them around for the rest of their lives-when they go to apply for a job for example. Oh, you answered yes, go ahead and provide the details of your conviction in the box below. The system will handle these worthless f***ers, not to worry.
It's not clear from the article excerpt that this was a marine sea turtle. Probably a large snapper as these inhabit the lakes around here in Daytona. Regardless, it is cruel and unnecessary to torture and brutalize any animal. Kudos to the vet for taking action to protect the turtle from these three viscous animals.