Black market red-eared sliders turtles
Abandoned by the thousands
TORRANCE - Authorities are asking the public not to buy black market red-eared sliders, a popular species of turtle, because they are being abandoned by the thousands across the Southland.
“In the last couple of weeks I've found three dead ones," said Tracy Drake, manager of Torrance's Madrona Marsh Preserve. “We have people that go up to the gate at night and push them through.”
When a Los Angeles County Sheriff's task force followed a tip about illegal fireworks in San Pedro on the Fourth of July, deputies unexpectedly found a stash of 10,000 live baby turtles.
“They were about 500 turtles in each box—and they literally exploded out of the boxes,” said Linda Crawford, the adoption chairwoman of the California Turtle and Tortoise Club's Foothill chapter.
Turtles carry salmonella on their shells, and excrement. Federal law has prohibited the sale of any turtle under 4 inches since 1975, but authorities say that hasn't slowed black market sales of the ever-popular turtle.
Typically bought when miniature size, the animals are routinely abandoned when they start to reach even half of their full-size capacity of 12 to 13 inches.
Sharon Paquette, president of the Orange County chapter of the California Turtle and Tortoise Club, urged people to resist the temptation to buy turtles at flea markets or in Chinatown because it only encourages the sellers to acquire more of them.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A father and son are expected to be sentenced to federal prison terms today for their roles in the illegal trafficking of South African rhinoceros horns in a case brought as part of a nationwide crackdown on the black market in endangered animal parts.
On Saturday, the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Bureau, along with numerous teams, volunteers and city of Lancaster staff will conduct a survey in a specific Lancaster neighborhood with the purpose of identifying local crime and nuisance problems.
Teams will begin the door-to-door survey around 9 a.m. and continue until they have reached out to the nearly 600 homes in the area. The area to be surveyed is 10th Street West to Beech Avenue, and Avenue I to Avenue H-8. The area was identified after analysis of call and crime volume was conducted.
MALIBU, Calif.—Scott Sterling, the 32-year-old son of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, has died of an apparent drug overdose in Malibu, authorities said today.
Sheriff's deputies discovered the body in an apartment in the 22600 block of Pacific Coast Highway at 11:29 p.m. Tuesday after going there in response to calls from friends of Sterling reporting he had not been seen in days, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The coroner's office today said an inmate who died at the California State Prison in Lancaster was a homicide victim, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office.
Ed Winter of the coroner's office said the autopsy confirmed that 63- year-old Steven Bogue was the victim of a homicide. He did not provide further details.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 40-year-old Damian Reguera was a suspect in the death of his former cellmate.
PALMDALE, Calif.—The man who was fatally shot after allegedly taking a gun from a sheriff's deputy in Palmdale was identified today by authorities.
