Back in June, I reported that free-flowing immigration from third-world countries resulted in three teens, refugees from Myanmar, slaughtering and eating one New York town’s swan mascot.
It is reported that poachers have captured Staten Island’s beloved monster turtle and may sell it for soup.
The massive, roughly 50-pound, two-foot-long by 15-inch-wide snapping turtle, known to admirers as “Shnappy,” and his nearly-as-large female companion vanished in early September from their decades-long digs in Clove Lakes Park on Staten Island, park officers and patrons told The Post.City parks officers are investigating claims that a team of men captured the titan turtle and his muse with hooks overnight sometime before Sept. 11 under the cloak of darkness, wrapped the doomed beasts up in towels, carried them to their car, and sped off.Some officers said they fear the turtles were likely flipped on the black market for big money to rogue restaurateurs and meat markets whose customers savor turtle meat — which is difficult to come by in the Empire State because it has among the nation’s strictest laws protecting reptiles and amphibians from being purchased or sold.
The turtles may be on their way to a New York restaurant.
This is because New York has some of the strictest laws in the nation regarding the sales of reptiles and amphibians. So, people who want to cook them have a hard time obtaining them.Unfortunately, this isn’t the first instance of poaching in that same park. There have also been reports of people poaching smaller turtles, clams, and fish from the same park.
Meanwhile, Staten Island has been struggling to deal with the surge of immigrants being directed to the area by New York City officials.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella was among those who filed suit against city government to shut the shelter down.”These ordinary folks wake up one day, they have, you know, migrants living next door to them, there’s nothing to do”, he told NPR. “And we’re just being told ‘Tough luck.’ And what we’ve said is Staten Island didn’t cause this problem. Why are we obligated to solve the problem?”Fossella says the city’s budget can’t handle taking care of so many migrants and Staten Island shouldn’t have to suffer the consequences. In fact, Fossella is one of several Staten Island leaders who has supported secession.”I know there are folks out there who think, ‘Well, New York City voted for a right to shelter.’ Staten Island is different. Staten Island doesn’t support these concepts.”
Unfortunately, Staten Island may have lost its mascot turtle to innovative hunters who are now making their home on the island.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY