Animal cruelty or not????

Question

In canada, can i get charged for leaving my snapping turtle in my boat outside??

ive had my snapping turtle for over a year now. i left it in the boat for like 3 months. only cuz i cant afford a bigger tank. but i still feed like i usually do when he was in the 10 gallon tank. she is healthy. my neighbour said i should put it in my house cause i can get charged for leaving it in my boat and killing it. they said the turtle wont be able to stand the heat. SO HELP ANY ANSWERS ARE GOOD

Answer 1

It's possible. If you're old enough to remember old school WWF wrestling, you'll remember Jake "the Snake" Roberts. He was famous for bringing a Burmese python into the ring and retired from wrestling a long time ago. He was arrested and charged with animal cruelty a few years ago after they found his snake was not being fed well and its enclosure was filled with f***s. The snake ended dieing from neglect and he was convicted. I remember reading this in the newspaper. I only bring this up because most people don't think animal crulety applies to reptiles, only cats and dogs.

I hope your snapper is currently in water. If not, there is a strong chance it could die. But if it's in water, I doubt the heat will be a problem. I'm in Texas, which I'm sure is much hotter than Canada, and I have snappers which live outdoors in the 100 degree heat with no problems. As long he's in water and can move around, I see no harm.

Answer 2

you should be fine. if you can, a tank would help but devoting a 5x5 area to it so it can grow really big might help. just keep him safe and loved. oh, and wildboys is a teriable show to learn about turtles:). just thougt i throw that in :)

Answer 3

I don't live in Canada, but rather in North Carolina where it gets smokin' hot like Texas (I'm actually originally from Oklahoma! anyway...)

Animal cruelty comes in many forms.  It matters not the species, breed, or size.  It can be indoors or outdoors.  It can be physical and YES EMOTIONAL.  Animals have feelings too.  "We" used to not even want to acknowledge that animals felt pain, let alone emotions.  Then..., well..., maybe..., cats and dogs, they may feel more pain than we first thought, weeelllll....., maybe they have more in the emotional department than we first thought.....

The point being, the more research that we do the more we find out how different from animals we are NOT.  Not that elephants have anything to do with snapping turtles, but......they are discovering that elephants have the same or close to the same capacity for emotions as humans do.  That's fantastic!  But who's to say that the same isn't true for any animal?  Just because they can't communicate so that WE can understand it doesn't mean that they aren't aware, don't feel, and don't need, well beyond the physical.  

So.....my suggestion to you dear is this,......know what your turtle has in the wild, when she's free and on her own (I am in NO WAY trying to make you feel guilty for having her in captivity!!)  I have an Iguana named Lucy, an Uramastyx named Uri, an Eclectus Parrot named Gabriel, a set of parakeets named Romeo & Juliet, and a Rottweiler/Pit Bull mix named Isaac.  Who the heck am I to argue with anyone who has an animal in captivity?  UNLESS.........my goal is simple when it comes to my animals.  I find it a very liberating approach.  Can I provide them as close to a natural environment as possible while they are in captivity in my care?  If the answer is yes, we're good.  If the answer is no.......then we're not so good.  And if we're not so good it's up to us as humans, the supposed "superior" being, to make the right choice and either appropriately release the animal or as more often the appropriate choice, place them with someone who can and will provide that for them.  There have been times where I have had to make the VERY HARD choice of giving away an animal that was clearly not as happy as he could be.  It was a dog and had been an only dog from 8wks to 3 or 4 yrs. old. I then added another dog trying to get him a play mate and then started fostering another.  My baby boy was soon not a happy boy.  By the time I figured out what was happening, it was to late.  He was miserable and I had other animals that I was responsible for.  What was I gonna do?  Disrupt several lives getting rid of all the animals except little Jack, or disrupt the one life and find a really single animal home where Jack was going to be the center of attention again?  The choice was obvious.  I found a home for Jack, with the help of my sister.  The beauty of it was the honesty.  With myself as well as with the people taking Jack.  I told the EVERYTHING and prepared them for what a stinker he might be for a while until he realized what he had again and that it wasn't temporary.  He's doing great!  I haven't been able to see him since.....but......by all reports.....he's doing better than he EVER did with me!  OUCH!!  But that's the thing.  IT'S ALL ABOUT THEM!!!!  It has to be.  If it's not all about them, then they can't possibly enrich our lives to the full extent that they are capable and would love to be able to.  If you can't make it all about your baby then it's time to let him/her go.  OR, if it is all about him/her (which it sounds like you're doing a great job of) If you can't do right by them the way that you need to do, then it's time to let them go.  The only exception to that is if it's a very temporary situation.

A good example is my Iguana.....full grown she needs an enclosure that is 9' tall x 6' long x 3' deep.  That's the absolute smallest!!!  Technically, she needs all out doors.  Boy that's a tough one.  I've only had her for a year and I feel really bad that I don't have that enclosure built yet.  But..... I also know that it's only temporary.  Right now....she has an entire bookshelf.  May not sound like much, but she seem to think it's great!  She get's up, down, sideways, upways, and downways, you get the point.  I don't worry about her interacting with the dogs because they protect her and make her feel safe.  My only concern for her is when I leave the house for a while.  Since she can get down and free roam I worry about her getting into things that she shouldn't.  Soon....very soon....she will have her enclosure.  It's a temporary thing.

I think for your snapping turtle, you need to think about how much room she should have to roam around in and assuming she's in water how often do you change/freshen that water? I think you're doing a fine job trying, but may have a few questions to ask yourself regarding her emotional wellbeing.  I know that this was long, and I'm sorry about that, but I felt like most of it needed to be said.  Good luck.

Shelly's Corner

Answer 4

if it is too hot outside then it is pretty cruel it should be in temperature it is used to in its natural habitat but if it has food and water 24 7 and you see it everyday and it isn't too hot or too cold then i think its fine but you should get a bigger tank and leave it in your house

Answer 5

wait....you have a snapper in a 10 gallon?

thats WAY too small even for a very young one.