Ontario Tests Snapping Turtle Roadkill, Finds Animals "Toxic Soup" Of Mercury, PCBs

[hatrack]

Testing done on snapping turtle road kill in Ontario found most of the creatures to be a toxic soup of PCBs and mercury, Ontario Nature Staff Ecologist John Urquhart says.

Opponents of the Ontario Snapping Turtle hunt say the population cannot withstand the combined pressures of pollution, cars, disappearing habitat and hunting given their low rate of reproduction.

An 11,000-signature petition calling for an end to the snapping turtle hunt will be presented to the Ontario legislature this week.

"The amount of snapping turtles dying on roads in Ontario is more than enough to cause a decline in just about every population near a road," Urquhart said. "In addition to that, 70% of the wetlands in southern Ontario are gone."

EDIT

http://www.tillsonburgnews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3479794

[LiberalEsto]

1. Poisoned turtles, mutated trout in another post

When will the corporations realize that we can't eat their toxic waste?

[Gregorian]

2. Human population.

That is the root cause. But we're going to ignore it to the very end.

[GliderGuider]

3. Encounter on a Central Ontario road

My fiance stood watch for traffic as I shot this, then we moved him off into a nice wet ditch nearby. My folks have a farm in southern Ontario, and their pond regularly attracts 3 foot snappers that are twice this size. Amazingly prehistoric looking beasts.

I didn't even know there was an organized hunt for them. Barbarism at its finest. We are the real prehistoric beasts, it would seem.

[Bigmack]

4. WONDERFUL picture!

Thanks for this one! Ms Bigmack

[Harmony Blue]

5. What is the point of hunting a turtle?

I can't understand the appeal other than wanting the shell.

[hatrack]

6. Soup, in a word - along with meat and eggs

We (humans, that is) have been eating turtle for a long time, apparently even today, even in spite of PCBs and mercury.