No leave for cop who shot turtle

Times Leader ^ | 7/15/2005 | RON LIEBACK

[camle]

nope. I've had some experience with these beasts, and they are fearsome. don't try to get close to a live one - they attack suddenly and with more speed than you would think - they are highly mobile, especially int he water.

if you can find a dead one, look closely at the jaws - they will mark a hardened steel gaffe (I have one with said marks), and bite through most shoe material. They have bones atop their tails (the bigger ones) that evoke stegosaurus plates, and their shells have serrations to help them burrow into the muck and hide. if you step on one, he can reach back and bite you in the leg before you realize that that t'warnt a rock.

[11th_VA]

ROFLOL !!! My thoughts exactly !!!

[PBRSTREETGANG]

[TaxRelief]

OOOO, Goody! There's a poll--

http://forums.timesleader.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=kr-tlgennews&msg=886.1&ctx=0

POLL: Should the police sergeant have killed the turtle?

Yes: 17 votes
No: 52 votes

[11th_VA]

I once tried to move a snapper out of the road with a stick the size of a baseball bat. The sucker pulled the stick out of my hands easily. People probably don't realize how strong their necks/jaws are.

I ran away with my tail between my legs ...

[Politicalmom]

This is just plain stupid. Was the dumb thing going to chase somebody down and maul them?

[Born Conservative]

The PA Fish and Boat Commission considers this a "nuisance" call, and wouldn't respond to it (due to lack of manpower).

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/12092629.htm

[edpc]

I like the byline. "Ron Lieback"......sounds like a porn name.

[camle]

i've seen these things clamp onto a steel gaffe and not let go - even after they are dead. had to pry it out.

their grip is phenomenal and they WILL let go eventually - if it stops struggling. but they only let go a little bit at a time, at the slightest movement, they clamp right back down.

they ain't afraid of you.

[School of Rational Thought]

Female snapping turtles roam in search of a nest during July.

If they would have left the turtle alone, she would have gone on her way.

The dumb LEO probably thought it was one of those military "assault" turtles.

[ArrogantBustard]

has a memorial fund been set up for the deceased's family "sob"

ROFL!!!!

[Tennessee_Bob]

the commission teaches officers to only use force if there is an endangerment of life or property.

Obviously, the commission has never dealt with a fifty pound snapping turtle.

[CFW]

Duh! You don't shoot a turtle! You heat up water in a big black pot until boiling, drop turtle in, cook until shell pops off. Then you clean, grind the meat, add spices, onions and a cooked, ground pork roast. Voila! Turtle mull. It's delicious.

[Tennessee_Bob]

When I find them in the road I put them in the trunk and take them to the nearest body of water.

Senator Kennedy, is that you??

[Charles Martel]

Yep, these things are mean as hell. I once saw one nearly bite through a hickory axe handle; you could hear the wood splintering as the jaws locked down. Once they latch on, you've gotta kill them to make 'em turn loose. Bad news all around.

You can see where the Japanese got the idea for Gamera, huh?

[mouser]

I have lived in Missouri most of my life, on a farm we swim in the ponds, rivers and lakes with them all the time. Only time anyone gets bit is when they pester them. If it was the Alligator Snapper they are protected.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

You heat up water in a big black pot until boiling, drop turtle in, cook until shell pops off.

50-pound turtle?

That's one heck of a big black pot.

[TaxRelief]

A snap decision in Exeter

Officer fatally shoots snapping turtle. He feared for safety of children.
By DAVID WEISS dweiss@leader.net

EXETER--James Fino feared the 50-pound snapping turtle that waddled into his Wyoming Avenue yard Friday morning might violently latch onto the arms of some curious neighborhood kids.

Fino, hoping to avert any attacks, wanted the turtle gone.

First he tried poking it away with a broomstick.

But the turtle wanted no part of that, breaking the broomstick in two with one hurried snap of his jaw.

Then a police sergeant took over. And the turtle nearly sunk his snapper into the officer's back.

Now the turtle's dead.

Sgt. Len Galli had to pump two shots into the turtle's head to ensure it didn't hurt anyone.

"I had to," Galli said. "God forbid it bit some kid."

Galli was called to Fino's home at 1005 Wyoming Ave. at about 11:40 a.m. The turtle made his way to the home from the nearby Susquehanna River, Galli and Fino believe.

Fino said he called police because he was concerned the turtle, which was in his front yard, would harm someone. "I didn't want to leave him loose. They're quick. … And it was big."

After the broom was broken and the turtle nipped at Galli, Fino said he watched Galli shoot the turtle.

"And it was still alive," he said.

Galli scooped the turtle up with a shovel and took it to a truck, Fino said.

Fino was confused about how the turtle got into his fenced-in yard. He hoped he could scare the turtle out, but the turtle couldn't escape, Fino said. Had someone messed with the turtle, the turtle could have caused severe injuries, he said.

Dan Tredinnick, the press secretary for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which handles amphibious-animal calls, said his agency does not respond to such "nuisance calls" because of a lack of manpower. The agency has 80 officers statewide, Tredinnick said.

But he said the officer on the scene needs to make a judgment call.

"The preferred method for dealing with a snapping turtle is if you can remove it to a more suitable area without harming the turtle. But that's a judgment call the officer has to make."

[camle]

they sit on the bottom, and wiggle their tongues. when a fish thinks it's a worm and comes in, they strike.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

You can see where the Japanese got the idea for Gamera, huh?