Hundreds of turtles and birds rescued from Long Island home

For the second time in less than a month, authorities confiscated hundreds of animals from a Tri State Area home. But this time the house was on Long Island. And this time the animals weren’t dogs. This time, the animals reportedly rescued from horrid conditions were turtles and birds.

As reported by WABC-TV in New York, the Nassau County SPCA seized the animals after personnel from its law enforcement division executed a search warrant at the Bellmore home yesterday.

On a steamy hot New York morning, authorities found some of the animals didn’t have enough water and others were malnourished. They were also deprived of fresh air and lived in dirty water, according to an account provided by an agency spokesman.

One of the animals — an alligator snapping turtle found living in the basement — belongs to a species capable of hurting people.

“That turtle could take your hand off,” Nassau County SPCA spokesman Gary Rogers told Eyewitness News.

You can learn all about alligator snapping turtles on nationalgeographic.com. But here are a few basics:

• You won’t find a bigger freshwater species in North America.
• They like to live in rivers, lakes and canals in the southeastern part of the United States.
• They can live for 50 to 100 years.
• An adult male’s shell can be more than 2 feet long.
• An adult male can weigh more than 170 pounds.
• Females are much smaller.
• They can stay under water for a long time.
• They have no natural predators other than us.

Now perhaps you see why they don’t make great pets. And personally I really wouldn’t want to keep one in my basement. Would you?

Never mind. That was a rhetorical question. But if you do want one, there are a few things to consider before taking the plunge. You can read about them on rightpet.com.

At the end of the day, what kind of pet you get is up to you. All I ask is the following:

1. that you do not further the exotic pet trade
2. that you do your research before you get any sort of pet
3. that you engage in responsible pet ownership

If you do all of that, you probably won’t end up on the evening news.