AN EXOTIC turtle has been handed in to the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) after it was found in Taylors Lakes late last month.
The illegal red-eared slider turtle was found on the corner of Rutherglen Way and Wanganui Court by a local resident who had nearly hit the animal with his car as it crossed the road.
He later identified it on the internet as a red-eared slider turtle and contacted authorities.
DSE Senior Investigator Sam Moore said not only was it illegal to have these animals as pets, but if they were released into nearby waterways, they could compete with native turtles for fish and food.
“The problem we find is that people buy these turtles as a pet because they look like
Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles, but when they become too big and they don’t know what to do with them, they just put them in a nearby waterway, which is illegal,” she said.
“The illegal keeping and trading of exotic animals poses one of the greatest risks of new pest animals establishing in Victoria and Australia.”
It is illegal to import, keep, breed, trade or release high-risk invasive animals and significant penalties apply.
Anyone with details or illegally held pest animals should call DSE or the Department of Primary Industries on 136 186.
