Red Eared Sliders Deserve To Live

• Competition: They are larger and more aggressive than native species like the Western Pond Turtle and Western Painted Turtle. They take over the best "basking" spots (logs in the sun), which native turtles need to regulate their body temperature.
• Disease: They can carry parasites and diseases, like salmonella, that native populations have no natural immunity against.
• Reproduction: They lay more eggs and lay them earlier in the season than native turtles, giving their offspring a head start on resources.

Maggie3fan said:

RES are invasive animals. In the Pacific Northwest they are populating the native area where the Western Painted turtle and the Western Pond turtle are supposed to live. Both of those turtles are threatened species partly because the RES's are so aggressive and they populate so easily. Both these turtles I mention are shy and very easily intimidated.
it is illegal to own a Red Eared Slider in Oregon. Because I used to operate a turtle rescue, people would drop a RES in a box at my back door. I had to not keep them in Oregon....so how to get rid of them??? Most of the time they are euthanized. I always had to literally drive them to another state, then find a rescue there who would take them...
The red-eared slider is native to the southeastern United States. When they are released into Pacific Northwest waterways by pet owners who can no longer care for them, they cause significant problems:

• Competition: They are larger and more aggressive than native species like the Western Pond Turtle and Western Painted Turtle. They take over the best "basking" spots (logs in the sun), which native turtles need to regulate their body temperature.
• Disease: They can carry parasites and diseases, like salmonella, that native populations have no natural immunity against.
• Reproduction: They lay more eggs and lay them earlier in the season than native turtles, giving their offspring a head start on resources.

in the time I am talking about, there was no Eppsdynasty. RES are a hard turtle to keep as they are active, they bite and will kill any other water turtle in the same area...
Frankly, in my opinion...they do deserve to live simply because they are a living animal, but in reality...most here are euthanized, or they are dumped in the forest to damage the native Western turtles.
I did keep RES in California...

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