Press Release
August 8, 2004

American Tortoise Rescue Says FDA and States Way Too Late
In Calling for Increased Enforcement Of Sale of Small Turtles

Turtles and Tortoises Under Four Inches Banned in US for Years

Malibu, CA - August 8, 2004 - American Tortoise Rescue (ATR) says the FDA and several states, including Wisconsin and South Carolina, which are calling for the immediate ban on the sale of illegal turtles and tortoises as prizes and gifts have had their heads in the sand for years. According to a published report this week, officials are seeing a surge in the illegal sale of small pet turtles, banned in 1974 due to the danger of salmonella infections. Small children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are most susceptible to the infection.

According to Susan Tellem, RN, and co-founder of ATR, there are as many as 250,000 cases of reptile-associated salmonella in the U.S. each year. She says the law banning turtles and tortoises for sale less than four inches has largely been ignored and health officials have blindly let the situation get out of hand. Malls, county fairs, the Internet and street vendors have been selling these turtles and tortoises and as prizes and pets illegally throughout the United States for years. She says that there is virtually no enforcement.

"Since we started our organization in 1990, we have seen the blatant sale of these animals everywhere in the U.S., especially in California and New York. No matter how many officials we contacted, including the health department and local law enforcement, our warnings were ignored and the sales continued, " says Tellem. "In fact, " she adds, "California Fish & Game as well as any number of state and federal agencies laughed at us or escorted us out of hearings as if we were selling snake oil."

Tellem says she is a trained RN and has even been told by health official in Los Angeles that there is a big problem with turtles even leading to salmonella meningitis in a baby from a pet turtle. But, even that made no difference to enforcement.

She said that any day of the week you can go to Santee Street in Los Angeles or many sections of New York and buy a turtle on the corner.

"This call by Federal officials for enforcement is laughable, " said Marshall Thompson, her partner and co-founder of ATR. "We have been screaming about this for almost 15 years and not one official has called for enforcement until now. It is indefensible." Tellem and Thompson have also reported many lawbreakers at local pet stores and on the Internet. These scofflaws sell undersize turtles to unsuspecting families. They say it was near to impossible to even get a return phone call. Now officials are backpedaling. "It is hard to say how many thousands of people get sick from these turtles, " says Tellem. "Many people probably confuse diarrhea and vomiting with the flu and do not connect their symptoms with the new baby turtle swimming in the small plastic carrier with the palm tree. "

"What is really sad as well is that these turtles get to be a foot long in some cases. But because most people think that they stay quarter size, they die without a chance at a long happy wild life," says Thompson.

American Tortoise Rescue and other animal welfare groups have taken the issue to the state and federal level many, many times, asking the California Fish & Game Commission, for example, to review the situation. After almost 15 years, the issue is still in limbo thanks to continued protests by special interest groups who call ATR's protests racist. Most vendors in Los Angeles are Asian or Latino.

For answers to questions, adoption forms, information sheets and other information, call American Tortoise Rescue at 800-938-3553. American Tortoise Rescue can be found online at www.tortoise.com.

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