Maryland to ban turtle harvest after Asian demand (Reuters)

[Eugene]

Maryland to ban turtle harvest after Asian demand

By Jon Hurdle

16 minutes ago

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The diamondback terrapin, a turtle species that lives on
the U.S. east coast, is under siege from Asian gourmets and American developers,
but now officials and lawmakers are coming to its rescue.

Scientists in the Maryland Department of Natural Resources this week proposed to
ban capturing the reptile from the Chesapeake Bay, where thousands are snatched
every year destined for China and other Asian countries where they are commonly
made into soup.

The moratorium, expected to take effect from June 18, would ban the terrapin
harvest indefinitely and help to reverse a predicted continuing decline in its
population, said officials.

Separately, Maryland lawmakers are also debating two bills that would also ban
capturing the species, whose shell grows up to nine inches in length.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070313/sc_nm/maryland_terrapin_dc_2

[kurth]

1. Anybody figure out why people want to eat rare/endangered species

Do they really taste better or what?

[Nihil]

2. Some people are just sick

You might as well try to figure out why some people want to
have sex with small children.

:shrug:

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Yay! Save our mascot!

I read a recipe for terrapin soup once (lived in Baltimore at the time) and I couldn't help but think, why bother? It's a lot of trouble for a little meat and a lot of waste. And it seems cruel to kill something as harmless as a turtle just for the taste.

I wasn't even a vegetarian then, it just seemed kind of stupid to me. The one justification I could see for terrapin soup being a local tradition was that live turtles could be stored all winter in a barrel of water in the root cellar. Modern food preservation methods make that unnecessary.