Boy Kills Giant Turtle

The thing that I was most bothered by was the age, size and weight of the animal in question.
I was under the assumption that they are becoing an endangered species, if they are not already.
Does anyone have any up to date information on theis subject?

I believe you're thinking of the alligator snapping turtle. I don't believe they're found in NC. The article doesn't say but this probably is the common snapper and certainly not endangered. For that matter neither is the alligator snapper but I think they are looking into some kind of protection for it.
Clay can probably verify if the Alligator Snappers are found near him.

Alligator snappers are rarely encountered in western NC in general, and to my knowledge they do not range into my area at all. Due to our elevation, several species of herps that are common even 40 miles away are not found here at all.
The turtle killed was a common snapper and there is an abundance of them here in both the rivers and any pond with other life in it.

I did not know it, but they can reach 85lbs. I have seen many common snappers before, but not that large. After doing the research, it says they can obtain sizes up to 85lbs. I would have never thought that in a million years.

I knew the Alligator snappers grew very large, but did not know the common did as well. I figured a large one would be 40lbs max.

I fee bad for the turtle yes, but im not angry, the way everything was explained it makes sense. I have a close relative ( of a sort its my boyfriends sister) who live in Louisiana and trust me when i say that, there just somtimes isnt enough money to go around down there. i saw a few threads on this saying how "oh the grocery store is here for a reason" ( in general terms) but you cant look at it like that. if theres an animal i(n this case the turtle), theyre not going to go out and buy food when its sitting right there! this animals like i read a littler earlier as well, was cleaned and used. it wasnt wasted.
Not everywhere in america is doing as well as we'd like to think they are, and money can be a real issue to where things like this happen regularly because people need to live and if you can get a meal for free why not?!
Im not saying its right, and im not saying its wrong. its just a fact that life isnt as easy as people may think. and desperate times call for desperate measures.

and then of course theres the point that they might have enough money, would you be pissed that they kept and ate the turtle, or just disposed of it and let it rot? ^_^ somtimes its best not to question the actions of others.