[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Police shoot snapping turtle (Page 1 of 4)
Posted: 7/15/2005 2:45:37 PM EDT
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No Leave for Pennsylvania Cop Who Shot Turtle RON LIEBACK Times Leader Distributed by the Associated Press EXETER -- As people question why a police sergeant shot and killed a snapping turtle last week, a municipal police training commission recommends the sergeant be placed on administrative leave or administrative duty while an investigation is conducted. Police Chief John McNeil says that's nonsense. "It's like if an officer decides to shoot a deer hit by a car, it's his decision." McNeil, who was at a conference for the Police Chiefs Association in Valley Forge this week, said he does plan to review Sgt. Len Galli's report but will not put him on administrative leave. "I was absent during the incident and only knew about it from the papers," he said. "I will read his report and move on from there." McNeil said a specific report must be filled out whenever an officer fires a weapon. "If a gun was discharged at a human, the incident would be handled in a totally different way, but it was a turtle," McNeil said. Beverly Young, of the Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission in Harrisburg, said Monday she does not know the specifics of the incident, but the commission teaches officers to only use force if there is an endangerment of life or property. "I hope he had a nightstick or contacted animal welfare before discharging the weapon." The turtle, estimated to be 50 pounds, was found in the Wyoming Avenue yard of James Fino on the morning of July 8. First Fino tried to poke the turtle away with a broomstick, but the tortoise quickly snapped the stick in two. When Galli took over, he attempted to pick it up. The turtle nearly bit the sergeant's back, so he fired two rounds into the turtle's head. Young said if the shooting involved another human, the officer would immediately be put on administrative duty. But the policy on discharging a weapon on an animal is different for every department. Galli did not return calls for comment for this story. Since a report of the shooting appeared in the Times Leader last week, the turtle incident has become a popular topic on online blogs. A Luzerne County Forum, at (http://luzernecounty.proboards13.com/index.cgi) http://luzernecounty.proboards13.com/index.cgi, has more than 20 responses from readers weighing in. Most seem to think Galli went too far. Some bloggers took a more humorous approach, including one who posted a picture of a large turtle coming out of the water and saying "Galli, I'm coming for you, you shot my Pa!!!" The Web site for Texas-based public relations firm Idea Grove ( (http://www.ideagrove.com/blog) www.ideagrove.com/blog) posted information on the turtle shooting online and offered this advice to Galli "A friendly (and free) recommendation to the Exeter PD: get your public information officer on the case Monday morning." Trooper Linette Quinn, public information coordinator for the state police in Harrisburg, said state police policy is similar to Exeter's in that the sergeant would not be placed on administrative duty because a person was not injured. "We (state police) have had to shoot dogs and deer that were hit by cars. All the cases were investigated involving animals and the troopers remained on active duty." McNeil said the last shooting incident in the borough involving a police officer was in February 2004 when an officer had to shoot at a car that was attempting to run over the officer. Because of the fast investigation, the officer, Dion Fernandes, was not placed on administrative leave. Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas conducted an investigation into Fernandes' firing of his weapon and concluded that the action was justified. |
haha I can see why he did it but still rather stupid.
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How in the hell was this cop trying to pick up this turtle? I moved a snaper off the road, and my hands never got near it's head, or anywhere where it could take a chunk out of me. Of course this turtle must have been special, like Reed Richards and his super stretching ability to nearly bite the cop in the back. Of course, by avoiding the head, it was able to scratch me with it's legs, but no big deal. Sounds like the cop was a pussy with an anger management problem. He should have called the professionals in animal control to deal with this out of control turtle! |
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Yeah, it's funny and stupid but it scares the crap out of me. There seem to be way too many cops that think "GUN!" first when things start to unravel and this incident and the response of the department tend to reinforce that. I wouldn't give a shit if this was the 50's or 60's and Barney blasted the turtle but there are too many cops out there that can't seem to make good determinations between turtles, cats, dogs and people and the level of threat posed by each in a given situation. NOT a general cop bash. I'm talking about TRENDS here. |
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I think shooting it was a little much, but he was within right to defend himself. Those Aligator Snapping turtles and take your arm off at the wrist with little effort. www.photovault.com/Link/Animals/Reptiles/Turtles/Species/AlligatorSnappingTurtle.html www.dausettrails.com/snapturtle.htm Look at the size of this thing!!! |
If AR15fan will excuse a short detour, I'd like to tell a story.... When I was about 7 years old, I was visiting my grandparents in Egan, Louisiana. One day a friend of Pappaw's pulled up in his truck and invited us to look in the back. He had caught a huge snapping turtle on a trot line. It was about 40+ inched wide across the shell, and must have weighed well over 100 pounds. The men, all Cajuns, were all talking in French and finally Pappaw picked up a yard stick and handed it to me. He said, "Why don't you poke 'im with dat stick?" They all grinned. I stepped on the side of the truck and stuck the stick towards the turtle. What happened next took about 1/10th of a second. The turtle reached out about 1 foot and snapped the ruler off at about 10 inches from the end, as quickly as if it had been hit with a hatchet. I didn't even have time to scream. The old guys all busted out laughing at how quickly I "dismounted" the truck. Pappaw,said, "You want to try that with your hand?". I said, "No sir!". They spoke some French for a while and the guy finally left. Knowing those Cajuns, it undoubtedly ended up as a turtle soup. For those of you that haven't ever eaten any, it is excellent soup. Turtle meat is not "fishey" at all. Tastes more like beef. I wish I had a big bowl right now.  |
Not me. I happen to love all animals (except cockroachs {shudder}). I even used to contribute to PETA. Really. I don't believe in animal abuse, or medical/cosmetic testing on animals. |
| At my Grandads camp the snappers were eating lots of fish so he would kill all he could find. One day he caught one and chopped it's head off with an axe. He then buried it in the sand pit. Later that day he found that it had dug it's way out and was walking around in the pit. A few shot's from his luger took care of it. |
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1. My reaction to a snapping turtle who bit a nightstick in two would be to shoot it. 2. My reaction to snapping turtles who have been minding their own buisness has been to shoot them with a .223 rifle. (They eat small bass, which turn into large bass, which I like to catch) 3. It's a damn turtle. Who cares if the cop shot it? What was he supposed to do, call out a hostage negotiator? 4. In years past nobody would have complained about a cop shooting a turtle that snapped at him. Hell, back in OP's day they would have made fun of him if he didn't shoot it on sight. |
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Well I lived on a farm in Pennsylvania with a huge pond on it, and brought out snapping turtles with shells amost as big around as the bottom of a 55 gallon drum. You bet your ASS I'd be dispatching that bad boy with something that shoots lead! You do NOT want to f@ck with one of these.  They do taste good as snapper soup with a dash of sherry though!  |
Me. I cannot think of a single circumstance where I'd feel compelled to shoot a turtle. 
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Perhaps if you owned a pond, stocked it with bass, and the turtles ate all your baby bass? That does it for me. Hornady ballistic tip bullets out of a .223, btw, offer a very satisfying effect on turtles. |
I'm familiar with the town - folk in "the valley" are a bit, um, odd. Exeter isn't a city, but not really rural either. Probably not the best place to discharge a firearm, but a 50lb snapper is pretty big, and if you get into their reach (they have a longer neck than you think), they can do some damage before you know it. Probably not something animal control deals with there, well, ever. If it came out of that part of the Susquehanna river, I'm surprised it didn't have at least one extra head  . I recall as a kid someone pulling one out of the same river, and it bit about a 6" chunk out of an oar blade.
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Damn! Some of y'all are are pretty harsh on the LEO. I caught a big snapper in my pond a couple of years ago. I dragged his big butt onto shore...but NOW what was I going to do? My fishhook was stuck well into his rear flipper. I know how powerful they are and this one was in a pretty foul mood. I yelled for my son to grab a pistol and a big paint bucket. I thought I'd try to put the bucket over mister turtle and try to pull out the big bass hook. As soon as that bucket started to come down on him he FREAKED and got away...pretty well straightening out that hook in the process. My son didn't use his pistol...but I'll be damned if I'd let a snapper take my hand off. |
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If you have never been personally involved with a snapper, then don't be so quick to judge the cop. Big snappers are VERY dangerous, they will take your hand off. For that matter, small ones will take a childs hand or a finger/thumb. If you are basing your judgements on a box turtle, then you are comparing a geko to a komodo dragon. |
| I caught snappers by hand. If I do not plan on eating them I would let them go. A fifty pounder is big. Just to shoot it because he did not know how to handle it was a waste of good meat. I wonder if the person who saw it in their yard would have shot it themselves and if the neighbor reported it would they been in trouble for discharging a firearm? |
+1. that's ridiculous. i'm usually on the side of "cop bashers"; however, a snapping turtle got shot? why does anyone besides the crazies at PETA care? |
| I shot a snapper this 4th in our pond with 3 193s and it was still alive. I hit 3 more times and then it died. They will bite and are extremely aggressive on land. They know they are slow and fucked so they will fight it out right there. The LEO did the right thing. |
