Originally Posted by
king2005
Squirt isn't mine :P
I'm the person who first mentioned Snapping Turtle lol
I was about 16 when I got Axle as a hatchling from the wild (you can't buy them, as they are illegal) he was near death, thats why I took him home.... since you were 16 you can't be charged with a Federal Offence like that... You might get yelled at or in some minor trouble, but nothing serious... what you more then likely did was sentence that turtle to it's death.
When a turtle is brought into captivity it is almost always put into tap water... That doesn't have ANY of the wild bacteria & parasites & can flush them out of the turtles system... so when it goes back into the wild it is quickly infested & killed. Also you could have given the turtle non-local parasites or bacteria which other wild animals are not exposed to, which can infest them & kill them... That is why releasing turtles back into the wild is a HUGE NO NO! Also the turtle might not be native to that area (RES are not native to Canada & yet they infest our waters) & cause issues down the road with pushing native species out of the area.. Just like the RES has done :(