Brooklyn man charged, selling on kingsnake.com

thought you guys would like to see this.. more bad publicity for herps and kingsnake........

Brooklyn man charged with trying to sell endangered tortoise on Internet[size=2]
By PAT MILTON
Associated Press Writer

December 23, 2004, 6:27 PM EST


NEW YORK -- A Brooklyn man was charged with trying to sell an endangered tortoise on the Internet for $18,000.

Jack Yang, 28, of Bay Ridge, was charged with violating the endangered-species law for trying to sell the tortoise to an undercover officer of the state Department of Environmental Conservation last Sept. 17, state Assistant Attorney General Hugh McLean said
Yang, a part-time student, pleaded not guilty to a two-count indictment Thursday at his arraignment before Brooklyn state Supreme Court Justice John Walsh. He was ordered held on $25,000 bail.

Yang posted the rare radiated tortoise _ with yellow coloring and sunburst designs on its shell _ for sale on King Snake, a reptile and animal Web site, between Sept. 15 and 17, McLean said. The advertisement was spotted by an environmental officer, who then arranged to buy the tortoise at an apartment.


Yang was arrested when he allegedly tried to complete the sale.

State and federal permits are required to sell radiated tortoises, which originate from Madagascar, off the coast of Africa, and have been on the endangered-species list since 1970. A radiated tortoise is valued at between $2,000 and $3,000.

The unusual markings on the one Yang had increased its value to around $18,000, McLean said.

The 4-inch-long tortoise seized at Yang's arrest was placed in the reptile house at the Bronx Zoo.

State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who brought the case, said: "This case illustrates the importance of enforcing the laws, especially those that protect endangered and threatened species."

I guess this proves that they do monitor online ads for criminal activity. I wonder if they gave Jeff any heat over hosting the ad.

I was just talking to this guy last week about some Ackies he posted here on fauna ! I guess thats why he never returned my email ????
I just hope my name doesn't get mixed up with this guy just because I sent him a few emails ??????

ok i have a question here... are radiated tortoises CITES appendix i or what? if you have them do you have to have CITES paperwork or what? i do not know much of tortoises and what if he has cb radiateds?

I don't know the details of it, but I think the fact that he was selling them wasn't the issue, I think it was a lack of paperwork to posess them or sell them ??? He seemed like a real nice guy when I was talking to him about the ackies, maybe its just one of those stupid mistakes people make ? I'm not saying he did or didn't know what paperwork he needed to have. He could have known all along he needed permits and just chose not to get them. From the way the story was written I don't think they were poached or smuggled or illegal etc. Sounded like he just made a mistake with the permit side of the deal....
Maybe somebody will learn from his mistake (I bet he will, $25,000 bail!)

i seen that ad, that was a killer tort. I wonder if it was smuggled in to the states or what? At least they know how to take care of the animals after they confinscate them.

I totally agree with Scott Petty's response. I have stated in many threads that most all herp sites are monitored for illegal activities by the Feds and most States. But, even worse is the fact that all of these sites are also monitored by the "PETA" type groups. And with all the reports you see on this site of inhumane treatment of animals, we are simply making it easy for them to attack the industry. But, I will shut up on this subject, because I don't have any suggestions for other solutions on this issue. I'm certainly not suggesting that we should turn our head when we see animal abuse or forgive and forget when we receive sick animals. I realize that the BOI helps us all by allowing us to report the "bad" guys. But, the BOI, and other sites also helps others. And these "others" can and will hurt us all! Perhaps we all may want to consider toning down some of vivid details, when doing a "bad guy" report.

Thank you.

David Rivers

State Assistant Attorney General Hugh McLean said they are creating 2 new positions in the FG&W with the sole purspoe of internet sales/trade/commerce of reptiles in NY.

What this means is that you will have 2 people that are being paid by the state of NY to keep a close eye on all reptile commerce on the web involving the state of NY. So you can bet they will be logging sites like this one,kingsnake reptibid and others.

Make sure you know your laws and abide by them.