Man Jailed For Not Tagging Turtles, Snakes

[Clay Davenport]

(AP) LANCASTER, OH A Lancaster man spent three days in the Fairfield County Jail last month for failing to put identification tags on his 10-year-old daughter's pet turtles and snakes.

The 51-year-old Terry Wilkins is the first Ohioan to serve jail time for violating a 2000 state wildlife-preservation law that -- among other things -- requires owners of Ohio native reptiles to tag them.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says a personal-integrated transponder tag slightly larger than a grain of
rice must be inserted under the reptile's skin using a syringe.

The chip contains a bar code readable by a hand-held scanner so that the pet's owner can be identified.

Wilkins, owner of a pet store in Columbus, claims the tagging often kills animals, causes them to develop lesions or become infertile.

Wilkins had allowed his daughter to keep eight turtles and four snakes at their home. When a state Wildlife inspector told Wilkins he would have to tag the pets and he refused, he wound up in court.

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[Dr Owens]

You have GOT to be kidding me...

 

[jsrocket]

You have no idea how petty the wildlife officials around here can be. Here's one example, out of thousands:

A friend of mine went deer hunting, and arrived at his hunting spot a little early. He decided to sit in his truck, and wait until it was closer to dawn to set out. He started to snooze while he was waiting, and was awakened by a DNR officer tapping on his window.

After checking his driver's license, insurance, hunting license, his gun, his vehicle, and otherwise thoroughly giving him the good ol' anal probe, he could find no problem.

So, he wrote him a ticket for SLEEPING IN HIS VEHICLE, which is apparently against the law in Michigan.

 

[jsrocket]

In case any of you experienced hunters out there are wondering: No, he was not hunting from his vehicle. His gun was unloaded, and in the back bed of the truck. He simply fell asleep while waiting to go to his stand.

 

[Junkyard]

This is all too much, tagging reptiles now? All this identification stuff will soon move on to humans, we all hear about horrible alien implants in humans, yet this is what we do to our pets.

 

[Dr Owens]

All this identification stuff will soon move on to humans, we all hear about horrible alien implants in humans, yet this is what we do to our pets.

Are you saying that you haven't gotten your implant yet? Don't worry about it Michael...I'll make sure that you're on the list. We'll get to you soon enough.