Turtles' hopeless bid for survival

Uh-oh, guess I might get busted as well. I rescue turtles all of the time, carrying a turtle box in my car. We have 3 acres with a stream that back up to a conservation area in Carroll County of about 30 acres. I release the turtles down near the stream to roam where they like on my land or theirs. Love the little guys and someone has to help them. Love seeing the little ones in the woods in the spring, knowing the adults have survived to breed. Guess the wall is what got this man in trouble?

What the turtles truly need is retraining and counseling. Look, the adult turtles know they are slow movers and that their crossing a road safely is unlikely. Consequently, my guess is that it is turtle suicide we are witnessing. Unfortunately, the juvenile turtles see their elders cracking under car tires and learn that this is acceptable behavior. It may it may be too late to help the senior turtles but intervention is needed NOW to save the young!

Turtle keeper permit? When does the Big Nanny State end?

Unfortunately the Nanny State never diminishes of its own accord. It's natural tendency is to become ever larger and more intrusive. As most politicians seem to believe, "doin' good ain't got no end".

I think I violated the mosquito keeping regulations last night. Now I'll be bitten and fined.

Our tax dollars at work. Wonder how much these state employees get paid to enforce turtle permit laws.

Danny boy the turtle hugger is better than Danny boy the thug hugger...

The regulations have been in place since 1993. You can see them at
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/captive.a...

Yes, there is a chance that a turtle crossing the road will cross it again and get hit, but when you remove that turtle from the wild population, that turtle is absolutely dead to that population - it can't reproduce to contribute it's genes and offspring to the population. Why not help pay for "Slow - Turtles Crossing" signs for the county to put up on high-traffic roads. Join the state/county/city zoning board to make sure new development is kept in check and consider wildlife crossing corridors. Convince the state highway administration to mow less often or at different times of year/day to avoid turtles that might be there.

Plus, in a really good box turtle enclosure, you shouldn't be able to find that many turtles. Lots of hide spots with mulch and leaf litter make it hard to find box turtles, which makes me question how you can find 52 turtles in one day in 1.5 acres if it was an appropriate enclosure!