Mexico finds 15,000 turtles in crates bound for China

Authored by citynews1130.com and submitted by Drizz_zero
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MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities said Tuesday they have seized a shipment of 158 wooden crates bound for China containing about 15,000 fresh-water turtles, some of them endangered.

The environmental prosecutors’office said the crates were found at a freight facility on the outskirts of Mexico City.

The turtles included white-lipped mud turtles, Mexican giant musk turtles, narrow-bridged musk turtles and the common red-eared slider. About 260 of the creatures had died in the crates.

The office said the turtles were not properly marked, nor did the shipment’s paperwork accurately reflect the species of turtles involved.

The trade in other kinds of wildlife has been implicated in the transmission of threats like the novel coronavirus to humans.

PolySoup on May 14th, 2020 at 12:54 UTC »

What I want to know is who was *SENDING* the turtles. Like, how do you even consolidate that many turtles? Do they not document which crate belongs to who? They should definitely track this back to who is sending these crates, this seems like a huge operation.

Senor_McSpookypants on May 14th, 2020 at 08:56 UTC »

this is not what i gave plastic straws up for!

nextcrusader on May 14th, 2020 at 08:39 UTC »

China probably traded fentanyl for those turtles.