I dont get the turtle farm.

[drog]

Why would anyone want to visit and support a "farm" where the turtles are raised for "commercial purposes"? Yes they conveniently fund research and preach conservation but the original and still primary purpose is to sell turtle meat and now admission to view them.

[bookbabe]

Because turtles are both cute and tasty? :D

[drog]

Because turtles are both cute and tasty? :D

 

 

Great! Hey while you are at it why not have some penned up dolphin pull you around by its fin?

[TurtleTagger]

Some folks are just really, really into the whole farm to table fad going on now. Not so different than choosing your lobster out of a tank before it goes into the pot. ;)

 

Just to be clear, the dolphin penitentiaries and turtle farm, as an attraction, are the results of pandering to cruise tourism.

[bookbabe]

Great! Hey while you are at it why not have some penned up dolphin pull you around by its fin?

 

I have...at Sea World in Orlando. It was fun, and I don't see it as anything different than going horseback riding, from a moral perspective. Much the same way as I don't see farming and eating turtles as any different morally than farming and eating cows or chickens. To each his own, though...

[Newcruiser35]

Would have to agree

I have...at Sea World in Orlando. It was fun, and I don't see it as anything different than going horseback riding, from a moral perspective. Much the same way as I don't see farming and eating turtles as any different morally than farming and eating cows or chickens. To each his own, though...

 

 

Doesn't farming them in a place like that stop the wild ones from being hunted more often if the farm didn't exist?

 

 

I just hope visitors wash their hands after touching the turtles even our local pet stores tell people to do it after handling the animals.

[Capt_BJ]

do a little research and you'll learn some very interesting history surrounding the Cayman turtle farm .... it was not started as a tourist attraction that's for sure.

 

What country was the biggest opponent?

 

And what country continues to pay a price for that?

 

What is that price?

 

My parents brought back pictures of the farm from their first trip to CG in 1969.

 

And I still remember as one of our most memorable (US) Thanksgiving meals: Turtle Cordon Bleu at a place on GC . . .

 

Today, IME, it is hard to find a place in GC that still has turtle on the menu . . .

 

Why do people visit dairy farms? What happens to these cows when they get old and don't produce? Do zoos really treat animals humanely? aquariums?

[drew sailbum]

...

 

And I still remember as one of our most memorable (US) Thanksgiving meals: Turtle Cordon Bleu at a place on GC . . .

 

Today, IME, it is hard to find a place in GC that still has turtle on the menu . . .

The price of turtle meat was raised (around a year ago, IIRC) to more closely match supply and demand. This resulted in an approximate tripling of price.

 

And the result has been predictable. Turtle has disappeared entirely off the menus of some restaurants. And anecdotally there are more reported incidents of poaching.

 

While I may not be a big fan of the idea of farming turtles I do recognize that intensively farmed animals (cows, chickens, pigs, goats, etc..) are highly unlikely to go extinct.