The issue with turtles and live markets

[Guest guest]

To give a background on the turtle issue, the turtles taken for food suffer an unavoidably cruel death, because they remain fully conscious while their shells are cut away, exposing their bloody internal organs while they are still struggling. It is pretty much impossible to kill a turtle humanely. They tuck their heads inside their shells. Even so, their severed heads remain fully conscious for up to two hours, if you do not pith their brains. So their slaughter is a lot more cruel than other "food animals" which have humane slaughter laws that may be easier to follow. Other animals are much easier to render unconscious before slaughter. I'm not saying this happens successfully all the time for them. Furthermore, turtles are not a common food for Asians. They are not in Albertson's or Safeway, nor are they in Asian supermarkets. The majority of Asians in this country do not even

know turtles are edible and would be equally appalled when they learn how they are butchered for food. Most of us do not want any part of this "tradition" if it can be called that. Don't forget some ignoramuses in Asia boil animals alive and think that torturing them makes their meat taste better. Turtle populations are being decimated worldwide to satiate the appetite of the rich and uneducated people in Asia. Lately, the turtles have become more affordable in Asia so that even the not so rich are eating them, like keeping up with the Joneses. They eat turtles mainly because of superstition, thinking they would live longer or be more verile. Finally, all the turtles sold in the live markets are diseased and parasitized. Such is not considered food by FDA standards. The real racism occurs when such technically illegal "food" is allowed to be sold.

If this were served to Caucasians, there would be no question it would be halted a long time ago. These turtles are in no condition to be considered "food." Many being sold are rotten and decomposing. They are all taken from the wild, despite what some may say. Many are caught in the United States. Some sold are 20 to 50 years old! Please don't fall for any apologist views. There is no excuse for it. Just because some other animals might be killed inhumanely for food does not mean people have to block any efforts to end something so senseless and threatening to human health and the environment. This has nothing to do with racism. That's only what the turtle eaters want us to think. They do not speak for the majority of Asians. On the contrary, racism does occur if sale of turtles for food is not halted because the health or sanitation of Caucasians is

not affected. If we don't close down live markets altogether, the bird flu problem will eventually affect Caucasians. That's a whole different story. One can do a search on the internet and find that bird flu is spreading in live markets all over the country. -Michelle