Reptile poaching leads to turtle extinction in the wild

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It's just wrong for so many reasons to take a wild animal from it's home and sell it in the pet trade.
http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/07 ... -19-arturo

It isn't just poachers who wreck the balance of wildlife in an area.

A year ago, "[t]he U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced it will kill hundreds of threatened desert tortoises it's been caring for at a Nevada conservation facility. The slaughter is being blamed on a lack of funds by the agency."

http://www.kingsnake.com/blog/archives/ ... money.html

By comparison, the act of one yahoo poacher seems to pale into almost nothingness.

I looked into that,what I gathered was that many of the tortoises to be put down were rescues from irresponsible pet owners,some are to old or sick to be released.I don't think any should be put down,it bothers me.But dumbasses buy tortoises and have no idea how to keep them,they don't feed a proper diet and don't keep the heat up,then the tortoise gets a respiratory infection and they turn it lose,to spread the infection.People should not try to keep these animals as pets unless they are willing to do the research and take responsibility.
If you don't think reptile poaching is an issue,do the research,many of the most endangered animals on the planet are cold blooded,Take the Fiji Iguana,it brings a high price in the illegal pet trade,someone tried to smuggle one in a plastic leg into the US.Go to IRCF for the facts.
http://www.ircf.org/
Besides illegal drugs,the next big pay off for jerks is the illegal pet trade.