# chinese turtle keychains?



## [email protected] (May 27, 2013)

This is just... horrible.. what do you guys think?


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## IRTehDuckie (May 27, 2013)

holy crap, why are people allowed to do this?!


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## [email protected] (May 27, 2013)

It's not illegal in china so they basically can do whatever they want


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## Millerlite (May 27, 2013)

That little guy looks really confused,


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## jaizei (May 27, 2013)

I edited the OP. This has been discussed before and there's no reason it can't be discussed again, just do it without bashing Asians. Prefacing something with "not trying to be racist" does not excuse it.


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## [email protected] (May 27, 2013)

it makes me wonder what percentage of turtles are actually cared for properly and grow up healthy. Probably not that many due to ignorant people. But it's good to know that there are some people out there taking good care of their pets


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## wellington (May 27, 2013)

I just keep hoping that the people that buy them have the sense to realize the turtles won't live long in the bag and that they will actually take the poor thing out and give it a proper home.


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## Anthony P (May 27, 2013)

There's nothing wrong with eating turtles, so long as they are "prepared" in the most humane way, without the animal suffering or any of it being wasted. I am only refering to common turtles ofcourse. Unfortunately, they are not always prepared in humane ways and the animals being eaten are not always common species.

These keychains aren't much of a debatable topic though. It's sickening and it is a perfect illustration of how disgusting we humans can be. I really hope this isn't still going on right now, as I know I personally have been hearing about this for at least a year.


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## mike taylor (May 27, 2013)

*Re: RE: chinese turtle keychains?*



Anthony P said:


> There's nothing wrong with eating turtles, so long as they are "prepared" in the most humane way, without the animal suffering or any of it being wasted. I am only refering to common turtles ofcourse. Unfortunately, they are not always prepared in humane ways and the animals being eaten are not always common species.
> 
> These keychains aren't much of a debatable topic though. It's sickening and it is a perfect illustration of how disgusting we humans can be. I really hope this isn't still going on right now, as I know I personally have been hearing about this for at least a year.



I have no problem with them being eaten, but I do have a problem with them being locked in a bag as a key chain.. But we can't do anything about it . 

Sent from my C771 using TortForum mobile app


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## EricIvins (May 27, 2013)

That is not what happens when we ship Turtles to China....Please do some research. China produces enough Turtles on Chinese farms to take care of these "niche" markets. The Turtles we ship to China would be too expensive to use for anything but the "pet" market, which is 10x larger than what we see in the US...


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## Yellow Turtle (May 29, 2013)

Yeah, imagine a concentric DBT or albino RES on key chains, should look pretty cool indeed


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## IRTehDuckie (May 29, 2013)

[email protected] said:


> it makes me wonder what percentage of turtles are actually cared for properly and grow up healthy. Probably not that many due to ignorant people. But it's good to know that there are some people out there taking good care of their pets



i agree, thats what restores my faith in humanity, people like us, like all tfo members


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## munchkin2983 (May 29, 2013)

I FEEL SICK :-(


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## JennBell0725 (May 29, 2013)

This reminds me of the origami kittens that shocked the web years ago. Probably done just to get people's panties in a bunch. 

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## mctlong (May 29, 2013)

JennBell0725 said:


> This reminds me of the origami kittens that shocked the web years ago. Probably done just to get people's panties in a bunch.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using TortForum mobile app



Except the origami/bonzai kitten thing was a hoax. This turtle in a bag thing is not. People really make, sell, and buy these. :/


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## Yvonne G (May 29, 2013)

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/keyrings.asp

There are no animal rights laws in China


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## JennBell0725 (May 29, 2013)

Yeah I googled it after I posted. Makes me nauseous. 

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## Mgridgaway (May 29, 2013)

This isn't really all that different than, say, giving live animals (anoles and goldfish were pretty common as of 10 years ago, haven't been to too many carnival since) as prizes at a carnival, which is still legal in many places. Sure, they have abundant air, but their death sentences are almost guaranteed.

Both are inhumane, of course.


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## JennBell0725 (May 29, 2013)

So is keeping a goldfish in a bowl or res for that matter. 

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## mike taylor (May 29, 2013)

*Re: RE: chinese turtle keychains?*



Yvonne G said:


> http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/keyrings.asp
> There are no animal rights laws in China



Thank you for pointing this out no laws hmmmm that sure is something. So I could ship turtles over there and there is no guarantee that they will end up as a pet or a sick key chain . You know there are some people on here that think everyone makes uneducated comments . I do a lot of research thank you . No hard fillings though.
Not pointing this at you Yvonne. You are one of the cool people that keep me on this forum.
Sent from my C771 using TortForum mobile app


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## jaizei (May 29, 2013)

Mgridgaway said:


> This isn't really all that different than, say, giving live animals (anoles and goldfish were pretty common as of 10 years ago, haven't been to too many carnival since) as prizes at a carnival, which is still legal in many places. Sure, they have abundant air, but their death sentences are almost guaranteed.
> 
> Both are inhumane, of course.



I suppose it begs the question: which is worse, a relatively quick death in one of these bags or prolonged suffering, such as those that are kept in the 'lagoons'.


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## [email protected] (May 29, 2013)

true and they still sell these "lagoons" on amazon


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## 7oasty23 (May 29, 2013)

[email protected] said:


> true and they still sell these "lagoons" on amazon



I used to keep a hermit crab in one of those, didn't realize they were actually for turtles.


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## tunafish89 (May 30, 2013)

Yeah, animal right laws, but how many "laws" are right, and how many people will actually understand, know or even care about the laws?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwSdzhi8-6A

Same thing happening almost everyday all around the world.
Some people did it cause they are less educated and they simply don't understand the meaning of animal cruelty and animal rights. They'll do whatever they can to make a living. I understand this situation as the people are just too ignorant.
Some people did it simply for fun, they know about WWF, animal laws or whatever bull crap, but they still do it, then I say these people are cruel.
For me, there are no right or wrong in these cases, if there are good people, then there will be bad people.
Instead of pointing our finger at them and curse them or do whatever we can to defame them, we should do our part to bring these type of sad stories to an end.


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## Yellow Turtle (May 31, 2013)

tunafish89 said:


> Yeah, animal right laws, but how many "laws" are right, and how many people will actually understand, know or even care about the laws?
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwSdzhi8-6A
> 
> Same thing happening almost everyday all around the world.
> ...



Very interesting video to watch. Truly reminds me of a popular quote in my country *"We can clearly see an ant across the sea, but we cannot see the elephant right in front of our eyes"*

Back to topic, whether it is turtles in plastic bags or choking snappers competition, the most important thing is how you can put your effort to prevent those things happening again. Big mouthing doesn't end those animals' cruelty, stops animals' poaching nor making animal right laws magically appears in front of you


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## ChasingBike (Jun 2, 2013)

This is horrible .


Really?I am chinese and living in Chongqing,I've never heard of this,but I have to say there are so many horrible things happening in China,not just in the pet marketing,I am sorry about this,
I am a witness of pet stores in China these several years,my friends have run pet bussniess(especially turtles and tortoises) for seven years in China. Everything is getting better,it just needs more time to get everything right,no one in this wolrd would like to spend a quater of their mouthly salary buying a tortoise and let it die(we usually get 3000-5000 rmb every mouth,and baby sulcata in china asked for 750rmb per each without counting the UVB,subtrate and housin cost),however,those species that are much cheaper usually get unproper care.Some pet owners(tortoises,lizards and frogs) in China that I know are trying their best to spread the proper care knowledge which come from years of experience and contacting with great owners from USA,Canada and UK on internet or locally,for instance,last 6 years,almost every pacman(horned frog) owners in China use biochemecal sponge as their substrate,but in 2012,some owners I know changed it by spreading great reasons based on exprience why using coco fiber as the substrate(like Eco earth),and now,during this year,except those pet shops,most of us are using coco fiber as substrate and those pacmans are getting stronger,healthier and having a longer lifespan,we are willing to take good suggestions.
Also,it's not just a pet marketing problem,it's something much more complicated,peoples' thoughts have been misled by the government and everyone's mind just have one thing-----trying their best to earn a living,buying house and cars, because two mouth's salary many Chinese people get could only afford 1-square-meter of a house,and in China,if you don't have a house and a car,it's very difficult that your girlfriends'/boyfriends' parents would allow them to marry you,.....so most of us don't get time to read,to learn and don't even feel and experience the great benifit of individually thinking,reading books and raise a hobby.
I often see people dropping rubbish everywhere,but I never blame them,cause people don't know that they need take responsibity for their rubbish,and it would not hurt their super-ego,everyone get used to it,it's matter of education,not many people get the right education,it needs time,and I see everything is going better and better every day in China.
Again,I am sorry for that happening in China.


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## GeoTerraTestudo (Jun 2, 2013)

There's no debate about it. Keeping fish and turtles in tiny plastic containers is obviously unethical and should be banned, period.


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## Yvonne G (Jun 2, 2013)

Hi ChasingBike:

This was a very heartfelt and warming post. I, too, am sorry this is happening in China. You have the right idea. Education. That's what we all can do to help stop things like this from happening. It does nobody any good to do name calling and finger pointing. Thank you for reminding us what we can do to help.


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## Yellow Turtle (Jun 2, 2013)

ChasingBike said:


> This is horrible .
> 
> 
> Really?I am chinese and living in Chongqing,I've never heard of this,but I have to say there are so many horrible things happening in China,not just in the pet marketing,I am sorry about this,
> ...





That's a very nice statement. Now that we have more members from China, I hope we can get more truth about what are truly being done by the hobbyists there, not just rubbish being spread by some "wannabe god-like" people.

Turtle in plastic is wrong, and these debates have occurred because "one" people blindly thinks that all people in China will have poor care of their turtles. As a citizen of third party, the condition here is similar with China if not worse. But collectors gather and share information and like you mention, things are getting better and better. Here in my country, price of a sulcata can take you half of the minimum wages for labor, so people who buy them surely not want to spend their money for nothing.

I hope you can share more information of the things there and kind of tortoise or turtles that you own if you have one.


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## yagyujubei (Jun 2, 2013)

Does anyone know when the rattlesnake roundup season starts?


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## tunafish89 (Jun 2, 2013)

Yellow Turtle said:


> ChasingBike said:
> 
> 
> > This is horrible .
> ...





I just want to give you a "like", but too bad it is not working here.
People only see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear and believe on what they want to believe. 
Some people feel good when they point their fingers at others and media like to use this trick to attract the attention from the readers.
Third world countries often being used as the bait to lure the attention of these kind of people.
Yes, some people in China had definitely did something disgusting and cruel, but not just the Chinese, people all around the world are doing the same thing, regardless of nationality and races.
You might be noble but that doesn't mean that everyone in your country are noble. Some people from China can be cruel but it doesn't mean that everyone from China are monster.
The seller who put the poor little soul into a seal plastic bag need to be punished, and the people who joined the turtle choking competition also need to be punished, regardless of their nationality.
So please, stop insulting people because of their nationality or races, it is discrimination and it doesn't do any good in spreading the knowledge about turtles and tortoises.


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## ChasingBike (Jun 2, 2013)

I used to have a baby sulcata,but he\she died due to the variety of food I offered to him/her is too limited,when I realized it,it was too late,I was sad cause we got a close relationship which i believe,then,I planted pumpkins,grasses,dark leave veggies in my own small yard and get my second tort,a leopard tortoise,now I feed him pumpkin leaves and flowers,Chinese kale,fresh grasses,purple cabbage,dandelion,well-chopped grass hay(Timothy,Perennial ryegrass,oat grass),chicory,Zoo med torts food and Mazuri torts food.


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## Yellow Turtle (Jun 3, 2013)

tunafish89 said:


> I just want to give you a "like", but too bad it is not working here.
> People only see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear and believe on what they want to believe.
> Some people feel good when they point their fingers at others and media like to use this trick to attract the attention from the readers.
> Third world countries often being used as the bait to lure the attention of these kind of people.
> ...



I'm just stating what I see happening to people in third countries, as what the aim for most people there are to gain better living condition. I had these kind of debates before and your words really express things much better than what I wish to type.




ChasingBike said:


> I used to have a baby sulcata,but he\she died due to the variety of food I offered to him/her is too limited,when I realized it,it was too late,I was sad cause we got a close relationship which i believe,then,I planted pumpkins,grasses,dark leave veggies in my own small yard and get my second tort,a leopard tortoise,now I feed him pumpkin leaves and flowers,Chinese kale,fresh grasses,purple cabbage,dandelion,well-chopped grass hay(Timothy,Perennial ryegrass,oat grass),chicory,Zoo med torts food and Mazuri torts food.



Sorry for the first one, but the second one looks great.

You have more varieties of food than what I feed to my leopard 

Please don't stop posting, I really would like to know the daily care of tortoise in other countries. You can post your enclosure and tortoise in the leopard thread.


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## Mgridgaway (Jun 24, 2013)

Fortunately, Snapperfest was cancelled in 2012. Or at least the parts involving live animals. The DNR got wind and shut it down. Presumably, it'll affect all Snapperfests.


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## zman7590 (Jun 26, 2013)

so that keychain is real>??? wtf! thats so messed up


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## *misskerrimoo* (Jul 19, 2013)

I'm very close to tears right now & want to vomit after reading all this. No way in h*ll am I going to blow that picture up or watch the video. I won't sleep for days if I do. I haaaate crazy mess like this. People who do this to these poor animals need the same thing done to them. Well, that's my 2 cents. :l

MY BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN:

3.2.0 Cats (Neeko, Bootsie, Bean (Special Needs), Puff (Special needs), Pokie)
1.0.0 Dog (Sidney (Special needs))
2.0.0 Bearded Dragons (Lochey & Zane (Special needs))
2.1.0 Leopard Geckos (Hopper, Spanky-Butt (Special needs), Rumi)
0.0.1 Greek Tortoise Hatchling (Mookie-Boo - Ibera species)
0.0.2 Fire Bellied Toads (Ellie, Teddy)
0.0.1 Emporer Scorpion (Mr. Pickles)
1.0.0 Betta Fish (Mr. Pook-Pook)


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## Vickie (Jul 19, 2013)

The saddest part is who can you really say is the blame in a situation like this? The people that make them trying to make a living as best they can and don't realize how bad this is or the people that buy them encouraging more to be made?


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