New York: Several teens filmed themselves gleefully torturing a turtle to death. Maximum punishment? $250 fine and "up to 15 days in jail". But we all know that jail time will NEVER happen.

NEW YORK -- The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation has leveled charges against the teen who is accused of beating a snapping turtle to death in Elma.

The teen, who is 16 and from Elma, is charged with two violations of state’s Environmental Conservation Law.

The disturbing video shows at least two teens poking a snapping turtle with a stick, and then using a large tree branch to beat it. After beating and poking the poor turtle, they finally hit it so hard that its entire shell, cracks open. 

The news story doesn't say what happened then, but the injury would be fatal. Did they continue torturing it until it finally died or did they tire of it and simply walk off, leaving it to suffer and slowly die?

The teens were so proud of their torture porn that they uploaded it to Facebook to brag to everyone about what clever animal abusers they are. 

 

 

Really, they're not clever animal abusers. What they are are serial killers in the making. Several serial killers have been documented saying they tortured and killed animals when they were children and adolescents (teens) and gradually got bored with torturing and killing animals and moved up to human beings. 

This video spread quickly on social media — with many people saying the teens were from Iroquois High School.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR CHILDREN 

AND TEENS WHO ENJOY TORTURING

 AND KILLING ANIMALS?

The district’s superintendent said the incident didn’t happen during school hours or on school property — but the district is conducting its own investigation.

Snapping turtles are protected and regulated under the state’s environmental conservation law.

Gina Browning, of the Erie County SPCA, talked to News 4 recently about the state’s push to increase penalties for certain kinds of animal abuse. She also discussed the role social media plays in these types of investigations.

“Because of social media, people are more aware that animal cruelty may be happening,” Browning said. “People are starting to look for. People are starting to question things. There is more of a capacity to report animal cruelty anonymously than there ever was before."

The teen is charged with illegally pursuing wildlife and attempting to take wildlife during a closed season. Both violations carrying a potential fine of up to $250 or up to 15 days in jail.

Why isn't he being charged with animal cruelty/torture?? So it's OK to torture a wild animal to death as long as it's "open season"??? And don't kid yourself. This Jeffrey Dahmer Junior will never spend one single night in juvenile detention. What he'll take away from this is that he can torture and kill animals and there is really no punishment for it.

VIDEO NEWS CLIP:

(WIVB - June 16, 2017)

APPARENTLY DEFENSELESS TURTLES ARE A PRIME TARGET FOR ANIMAL ABUSERS:

• Michigan: Teen girl videotapes her brother slowing sawing off a turtle's head
• Massachusetts: Woman stops to let turtle cross road. POS behind her gets mad and purposely runs over the turtle, killing it
• Pennsylvania: No punishment for cop  who shot and killed a turtle. LEN GALLI is an embarrassment to law enforcement
• Texas: 53-pound alligator snapping turtle freed from a Houston drainpipe after being stabbed in the head and leg, is rehabilitated and released
• Wisconsin: Horrific pictures of turtle bludgeoned to death with a GOLF CLUB while laying her eggs in a bunker
• New York: Niagara County teens likely to face charges for torturing and killing a snapping turtle
• Florida: Trio of Florida men charged after brutally beating disabled Navy veteran who told them to stop torturing a turtle
• Florida: Disabled veteran, beaten for trying to save turtle's life, gets big surprise
• Pennsylvania: Taylor Geib, 21, Austin Garner, 21, and unnamed juvenile, 17, thought it would be funny to blow up a poor turtle

South Carolina: On the same day police found 23 reptiles and a Beagle mix starved to death in Army Staff Sergeant Kurt Hafner's apartment, he was busy posting a review on Facebook about his recent purchase from SD Tactical Arms

SOUTH CAROLINA -- A Richland County man has been charged with 24 counts of ill treatment to animals after deputies serving an eviction found dead animals in his apartment.

Kurt Hafner, 36, was arrested Wednesday. Investigators said Hafner is a staff sergeant stationed at Fort Jackson.

Photo from 2006 posted by Hafner

The Richland County Sheriff's Department charged Hafner after the animals were discovered in an apartment on Meredith Square, which is across the street from Richland Northeast High School, while on April 10.

Investigators found a 15-18 pound Beagle mix, one bearded dragon, two alligator snapping turtles and a variety of snakes,  including extremely venomous ones, all dead and starved to death in the home.

According to Sheriff Leon Lott, investigators determined Hafner abandoned the animals in the home without food and water since February.

 

Investigator Joseph Clarke said it is the worst animal cruelty case he's ever seen.

“This home was in disarray, to say the least," Clarke said. "There was a lot of fecal matter from the dog that we found deceased - which indicated that the dog survived for a long time eating whatever it could to survive before running out of food and finally, slowly starving to death. 

"There was personal papers, residual ammunition, and personal property belonging to the suspect. The house was in tremendously bad shape with a really bad odor of decomposition.”

 

Snake experts from All Things Wild assisted in locating the dead animals.

“He had actually posted something on the door that said venomous snakes, this was during a regular check of the air condition filters. At that point, it voided his lease. That’s when we discovered at least 24 deceased animals.

 

 

"Twenty-three were reptiles. Bearded dragon, albino, boa constrictors, eastern diamondback rattle snakes and we did find one deceased dog that was in a bad state of decomposition.”

Hafner was taken into custody at Fort Jackson after the sheriff's department made contact with his chain of command.

In the video clip, it said that South Carolina doesn't have a law against owning poisonous / venomous animals.

(WISTV - April 20, 2017)

Texas: 53-pound alligator snapping turtle freed from a Houston drainpipe after being stabbed in the head and leg, is rehabilitated and released

TEXAS -- The alligator snapping turtle stood frozen on the banks of a caramel-brown stream.

It didn't blink. It didn't unfurl its tail. It just stood there, inches from the water.
"Come on buddy," said Brian Mihura, trying to coax the turtle into safe refuge. "It's downhill from here. It's easy."

Lately, things haven't been easy for the 54-pound turtle.

A two-inch groove stretched across its bony skull, most likely the remnant of a fight with another male alligator snapping turtle.

In early December, it got wedged inside a drainage pipe in north Houston, and the rescue turned into a viral sensation.

Since getting sprung from the pipe, things have definitely been looking up. Over the past month, the alligator snapping turtle has been getting plenty of rest and top-notch veterinary care at the Wildlife Center of Texas.

On Wednesday, the turtle – along with another alligator snapping turtle – were safely released into a Houston-area bayou, a place where scientists know there is an established population of alligator snapping turtles.

"It's kind of like a bar scene for turtles," said Jordan Gray with the Turtle Survival Alliance. "You have quite a few females here, and they'll probably leave when the males show up but they're going to follow them. That's how I would explain turtledom."

Gray and others involved in the release asked reporters not to identify the specific location.

That's because alligator snapping turtles are a threatened species in Texas. Their numbers are dwindling because of habitat loss, exotic pet trade and over-harvesting.

If you don't believe someone would want to eat an alligator snapping turtle, consider the smaller turtle released Wednesday.

Someone found the 37-pound turtle in a parking lot in College Station last fall. It had deep stab wounds to its head and legs.

Center officials theorize that someone caught it, tried to kill it, gave up and dumped it in the parking lot, where it found refuge under a truck.

Texas A&M veterinarians stitched the turtle back up and it's been rehabbing at the center ever since.

Its recovery was somewhat overshadowed by the rescue of the turtle from the drainage pipe.

To free that one, rescuers had to borrow "jaws of life" equipment from a nearby fire department. Center officials estimate the turtle had been stuck for several days. Behind the turtle in the pipe were several dead turtles – including two alligator snapping turtles.

Video footage of the unusual rescue went viral.

"The story went everywhere, even the UK," said Anni Ranck, of the Wildlife Center of Texas.

"The funny thing was it didn't exactly generate a lot of donations for its care. I guess most people don't find them very cute and cuddly."

Gray thinks of them as living dinosaurs. It's easy to understand why.

Covered in bony armor and sporting a tail you don't typically see on turtles, male alligator snapping turtles can weigh almost 200 pounds. And they are growing increasingly rare throughout the southern United States.

The Wildlife Center of Texas has only cared for three alligator snapping turtles in the past three years.

To understand how hard it is to even find one these days, consider this: Center officials received requests from museums for the shells of the dead alligator snapping turtles found in the pipe.

"To be involved in the release of an alligator snapping turtle, this is rare," Mihura said.

Gray and others with the Turtle Survival Alliance plan to monitor the two alligator snapping turtles released Wednesday. Both had their shells notched and were fitted with microchips.

Members of the group are trying to get a better handle on the population of turtles that live in the Houston area to better understand how to protect them.
What they do know is that one of the greatest threats the turtles face is from leftover monofilament fishing line, which can wrap around and cause them to drown.

"I think the main thing we want to ask people to do is to not cut their fishing line," Gray said. "They should try to the best of their ability to untangle their line."

When asked whether he thought the big alligator snapping turtle might end up in another drainage pipe, Gray said he didn't think so.

The turtles, he explained, are pretty sedentary and unlikely to roam back to exact location. Likewise, the release site was carefully selected because there are no drainage pipes close by.

As the volunteers hoisted the big turtle out a plastic bin, it opened its massive jaws, and it seemed to be smiling for the camera, a last close-up, hopefully ever.

They sat the turtle on the ground, and it eventually took one step, then another. Then it quietly slipped under the water.

(Houston Chronicle - Jan 11, 2017)

Earlier:

• Texas: Huge injured 53-pound snapping turtle saved from pipe

Texas: Huge injured 53-pound snapping turtle saved from pipe

TEXAS -- A wounded 53-pound snapping turtle is recovering at a Houston wildlife rehabilitation center after fire-rescue crews saved it from a drainage pipe.

The Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says the specimen, one of a threatened species known as alligator snapping turtles, was found wedged Tuesday in the pipe in a new residential development near Hockley, about 35 miles northwest of Houston.

Fire-rescue crews used a spreader to open the pipe enough to remove the turtle, which had struggled to keep its head above water.

Several drowned alligator snapping turtles flowed from the newly unblocked pipe.

The SPCA said it also is rehabilitating one other alligator snapping turtle, which had an embedded fish hook and other serious wounds. Both will be returned to the wild after recovering.

(Sacramento Bee - Nov 30, 2016)

New York: 400 Birds, Turtles, Chinchillas Seized From NY Home belonging to Gary Gruber

NEW YORK -- Approximately 400 animals, mostly birds and turtles, were seized from a home Tuesday in what is being called Nassau County's largest animal seizure.

Nassau County SPCA spokesman Gary Rogers said officers with the Animal Crime Unit executed a search warrant at the home on Ocean Avenue in Bellmore Tuesday morning and found the animals living in unsanitary conditions.

The raid came after a neighbor complained numerous times about the noise and smell from the home.

The family shared the house with more than 250 birds, many of them beautiful, most of them exotic, and all of them loud.

"It sounded like the Amazon," a neighbor said.

"Oh, yeah. You can't help but know. You walk by and hear the birds," said Jackie Cornman, a neighbor.

"This is the illegal one. That's an illegal Asian Water Monitor," an animal expert said.

 

Birds were just the beginning. The owner had 151 reptiles, mostly turtles, like an alligator snapping turtle. He also had chinchilla's, prairie dogs, a skunk, and a few sugar gliders.

Nathan DeCorpo, a lawyer for homeowner Gary Gruber [wants us to believe that] his client "is a conservationist who rehabilitates animals". But the SPCA disagrees.

"We're going to be here for a long time today. It was animals living in filthy [slimy] water, they didn't have proper food and water, and they were living without a healthy supply of healthy fresh air. It was very unsanitary in there," said Gary Rogers, SPCA Spokesman. "It’s a condition that you wouldn’t want to live in and we have a responsibility not to leave the animals there either.”

Workers wore Tyvek suits and some had air filtration systems because the smell was so pungent.

"It's horrible for the animals. The animals couldn't have fared well, and you saw, the animals that are coming out, there's nine birds in a cage, that's cruelty and those animals are beautiful," Cornman said.

 

It’s not the first time animal rescuers visited Gruber.

Nearly a year ago, they removed an alligator he owned. In a deal back then, Gruber was told to clean up his home [in exchange for criminal charges not being filed against him] but he failed to meet the deadline. The investigation is continuing.

(WABC- June 21, 2016)

Massachusetts: Woman stops to let turtle cross road. POS behind her gets mad and purposely runs over the turtle, killing it

MASSACHUSETTS -- Although this appears to have originally been posted back in June 2014, it is still making the rounds on Facebook and has been shared nearly 60,000 times already by outraged animal lovers.

"I slowed down and let a giant snapping turtle cross the street in rehoboth. This HORRIBLE human being got pissed that I did this and DELIBERATELY ran it over and then beeped at me! Massachusetts plate 5JKA 10 everyone please share. Maybe this guy will get the message."

Maine: Snapping turtle rescued and relocated by Animal Control

MAINE -- The City of Bangor is a great place to raise your family.

With the friendly citizens, superb business climate, open spaces overseen by a fantastic parks and recreation department, great public safety employees (selfless plug) and a fantastic school system, we rarely ask anyone to leave town and find somewhere else to call home.

Why should we?

In an effort to be completely transparent I can tell you that recently, we did forcefully relocate a citizen.

She did not listen to the good advice and was preparing to raise a family in a location that did not suit our vision for Stillwater Avenue. She refused to use the crosswalk and we felt when the kids came along, they would be getting in the way as well.

Animal Control Officer Trish Bruen told me the woman was ornery and it took some prodding to get her into the moving van. She now lives in a local bog.

No, it's not on the City Bus route but if she needs groceries or entertainment, there are places within swimming distance.

Just another service provided by our friendly, Trish.

The men and women of the Bangor Police Department urge everyone to keep their hands to themselves, leave other people's things alone and be kind to one another.

We will be here.

(Bangor Maine Police Department Facebook - June 9, 2016)

Niagara County teens likely to face charges for torturing snapping turtle

NEW YORK -- The Niagara County SPCA and the state Department of Environmental Conservation expect to press misdemeanor charges against several teens who are suspected of torturing and killing a large snapping turtle with a pitchfork and a baseball bat last month.

Three teenage boys have been questioned and a fourth, who is believed to have repeatedly struck the turtle with a bat, is being sought.

Amy Lewis, director of the SPCA, said the incident happened at a party on June 6 on Royalton Center Road in Wolcottsville.

“It was a pretty large turtle, larger than a basketball,” Lewis said. “What we are concerned about is the actual cruelty aspect of the case.”

Lewis said a couple of the teens stabbed the turtle with pitchforks and one was “smacking it with a baseball bat for a good 30 seconds.”

The turtle was killed after it was stabbed a final time with a frogging fork and ultimately thrown into the fire.

Following an investigation, three of the four boys, who are between 15 to 17, were questioned by the SPCA and admitted they had stabbed the turtle and thrown it into the fire, Lewis said.

“We are still looking for the guy who was wielding the baseball bat,” said Lewis.

She said the torture of the turtle came to light after someone took a video of the attack and posted it on Facebook. The video, which showed the teens laughing and swearing as they took turns attacking the turtle, has since been removed, but someone shared the video with the Erie County SPCA, which then turned it over to Niagara County.

“We have a copy of the video,” Lewis said.

She added, “We generally don’t see a lot of complaints about wildlife, it’s mostly companion animals, but we would get involved in a case like this. It is not a felony charge like the companion animals case, but it is a misdemeanor.”

The DEC was brought in because the turtle was taken out of season and inappropriate implements were used for hunting wildlife. The turtle had reportedly been picked up on Cedar Road in Newstead and brought to the party.

Lewis said her agency is leading the investigation and has questioned the young men. She said they plan to file misdemeanor animal cruelty charges.

(Buffalo News - July 8, 2015)

Teen girl videotapes her brother slowing sawing off a turtle's head

MICHIGAN -- A 17-year-old girl has provoked a storm of controversy after she posted a video on Facebook showing her older brother slowing saw the head off a live turtle.

Catrina Shears, from West Michigan, posted the 43 second video of the snapping turtle's death to the social media website this week.

The clip, filmed on a mobile phone, shows the teenager using pliers to pull the turtle's head out from its shell while her elder brother steps on the turtle.

 

 

As the turtles squirms he then pulls out a hacksaw and slowly saws through the animal's neck for about 20 seconds.

Although the turtle moves it's legs it stops moving after as the hacksaw goes deeper. 

According to her Catrina's comments the pair were in rush and could not find an axe.

Catrina seems unaffected, and said they have done this for years, and described how they let the animal's blood drain for several hours.

Then she commented that she 'should have taken a video of the blood squirting' from the turtle's neck.

The posting on the video drew heavy criticism on Facebook with many saying if the siblings want to hunt and kill animals for meat the method of death should have been quicker.

Other people said that 'decapitation is the humane way to kill a snapping turtle.'

After several complaints the Department of Natural Resources released a statement reported Fox8.com, saying: 'We are certainly disappointed anyone would post something like that to social media.

Although the actions depicted in this video are technically legal under state statute - provided that the capture of the turtle was legal - we would advocate a more rapid means of taking the animal's life.

[Torturing an animal by slowing sawing off its head is not humane. This is animal cruelty and these pieces of **** to both be charged!]

We further hope this turtle was taken for the purpose of human consumption.'

Last night Catrina wrote on her Facebook page:  'Everyone who messages me saying rude things will also be reported for harassment and cyber bullying if they threaten me etc.' 
(Daily Mail - Sept 9, 2014)