The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has announced it has broken up a Turtle-smuggling ring operating out of Fort Myers in Lee County. The commission became involved in the case after a man and woman were stopped for a traffic offence in Charlotte County in May 2019, and were found to be in possession of 42 small Three-striped Mud Turtles, Kinosternon baurii, one Florida Softshell Turtle, Apalone ferox, and a 30 cm Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis. Concerned by this the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who's enquiries led them to raid a property in Fort Myers in August where they seized several hundred more Turtles.
Turtles seized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in a raid on a property in Fort Myers in August 2019. The News Press.
The Turtles seized in Fort Myers include Florida Box Turtles, Terrapene carolina bauri, Eastern Box Turtles, Terrapene carolina carolina, Striped Mud Turtles, Kinosternon baurii, Florida Mud Turtles, Kinosternon subrubrum, Chicken Turtles, Deirochelys reticularia, Florida Softshell Turtles, Apalone ferox, Gulf Coast Spiny Softshell Turtles, Apalone spinifera aspera, Spotted Turtles, Clemmys guttata, and Diamondback Terrapins, Malaclemys terrapin. In addition body parts from a Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle, Lepidochelys kempii, and a Black Bear, Ursus americanus, and a quantity of narcotics were confiscated.
Six hundred of the Turtles were returned to the wild almost immediately, and twenty four more after a period in quarantine, with another three hundred being monitored by the Sanibel-Captive Conservation Foundation, and a small number from species non native to Florida passed to a captive wildlife licensee.
Turtles seized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in a raid on a property in Fort Myers in August 2019. The News Press.
Two men were arrested during the raid, Michael Boesenberg, 39, who is suspected of organising Turtle trapping across Florida and neighbouring states, and Michael Clemons, 23, of selling, possessing and transporting Turtles taken from the wild. It is thought that the Turtles were intended for export to Asia, where captive Turtles can be worth hundreds of dollars in the pet trade.
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