Exposing the Cruel Truth about Minnesota's Turtle Races
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- Опубліковано 24 чер 2021
- Today's video is at times a tough one to watch... We discuss the well-intended, but poorly-executed tradition of turtle races in Perham which have been going on for over 40 years. We offer our suggestions to make it more sustainable for the native turtle populations, but something definitely needs to be done about the improper handling of the turtles as well if they should continue.
You can share your thoughts about this 3-month event with the Perham, MN City Council Members here:
www.ci.perham.mn.us/index.asp...
Works Cited
Griffith, B., J. M. Scott, J. W. Carpenter, and C. Reed. 1989. Translocation
as a species conservation tool: status and strategy. Science 245:477-480.
Upon reading a more recent paper however, it appears as though the success rate of reptile relocation attempts in more recent years (Germano and Bishop 2009) are higher compared to this paper’s results. Success rates seemed to be dependent on higher numbers of relocated animals (1,000 or more released at once being most successful in the case of amphibians). However, reptile relocations are still not as successful as mammals…
Germano JM, Bishop PJ. Suitability of amphibians and reptiles for translocation. Conserv Biol. 2009 Feb;23(1):7-15. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01123.x. PMID: 19143783.
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The problem with this is most people will say "It's just a turtle."
As a bullfrog and snapping turtle eater I do let the kids play with the bull frogs before processing. Btw they love this channel but they do know where food comes from.
A lot of people only think it’s cruel if it’s a dog or cat. All animals deserve respect.
@Bumble Bee they'll call you stupid and immoral for comparing a human's life with an animal's
@@tinybubbles3724 Isn't eating snapping turtle illegal? Is it sustainable? I know bullfrogs are invasive in many areas.
@@EclecticallyEccentric wisconsin season opens July 15. See you there! Snapping turtles are prolific breeders.
racing turtles, wild ones especially, and having to RENT them is gross. having children also handle turtles without having an adult help them is cruel and sad.
I once saw a turtle being held by the neck. It was limp and struggling to breathe. Poor little fella died and the kid threw him in a neighbours pond. Its awful.
@@datgaydangernoodle1315 poor guy =(
@@Feezee223 he was a gorgeous painted one too. Rare where i live. Rip little guy ❤️
@@datgaydangernoodle1315 God
That’s horrible I’m so sorry 😣
After this I gave my turtle some food, and told her I loved her. By the way, my dad had the 'brilliant idea' of releasing my juvi female RES into the wild once she 'got too big'. I told him very firmly that, no, I am not giving her up, its illegal to release them into the wild, and she was rasied in captivity from a hatchling. And most shelters are over their ears in RES, most of which never get adopted.
Considering how turtle's shells are apart of their spine and they can feel from it, the pain of being dropped must be equivalent to falling down the stairs.. Any animal shouldn't have to go through this but even if it's for money to care for your family, that doesn't make it okay to practically torture an animal, even one so overlooked by society I feel so bad for the turtles
PRACTICALLY???
In my town we replaced turtle racing with dressing children in turtle costumes and letting the kids race.
Ummmmmm…… okay
@@jaycollins7385 What's got you confused?
It's a really good idea, I couldn't watch the video entirely seeing how awful it must have been for those poor turtles...
I'm happy to see that some town are finding good solutions to replace those turtles races!
Do they smack buckets behind them?
Do the turtles smack buckets behind them ??
I can't believe this is even legal, especially with the mortality rate, the stress, and torture that these poor turtles go through. My heart dropped when I saw the turtles being dropped. This has to stop. This is flat out animal abuse.
Poor little Guys. No living creature deserves to be scared and gawped at, then thrown away. Its disgusting.
This. With some traditions, it's good if they die off, like this one. That was so awful to watch. These people are seriously like "Here, have a living being and be as careless as you wish with it. You can scare it and stress it out, too! Doesn't matter, there's a good chance it'll die in the next few days or weeks anyways."
I agree this needs to end
Why isnt the place sued for this disgusting act. The poor turtles😭
The turtle flipped over and I died😵😭
This hurts my heart so much. I remember going to these exact turtle races when I was really young and my dad bought me a turtle to race. I remember having so much fun and took my turtle home and kept him for many years. He did outgrow his space and I wasn’t able to give him prober care so we were able to find a sanctuary to take him instead. When I raced him they didn’t do the bucket thing, that is really hard to watch. We would just let them go and have fun watching them problem solve to get to the finish line where someone else had treats for them! It’s heart breaking to see what this has become.
That's what I thought turtle racing was then I watched this
I could not continue watching this after the second race, it breaks my heart. But I am so grateful to you both for calling attention to this cruelty. Thank you so much for all that you are doing to help others fall in love with, and learn to care about, the animals among us.
Dear Council Member,
I have been made aware of the seemingly infamous turtle racing season at the city of Perham. To my knowledge, the conditions of this race are extremely harmful to the turtles used. I have a few thoughts on how you as a powerful member of Perham might move forward to prevent as much death of these turtles as possible.
Firstly, we can change the type of turtles used from Painted wild caught turtles to Red-eared sliders that come from captivity. Using turtles in captivity ensures that there is no further human disruption to the balance of the ecosystem for months at a time. At the end of the season, instead of releasing all of the turtles into the same lake which results in many turtle deaths, turtles donated from local herpetological societies or reptile rescues can be returned or given away to racing members. This reduces the overpopulation of Red-eared sliders and brings no disruption to the ecosystem. To help boost the economy, you can also set up a fundraiser for people to donate to these herpetologist societies or reptile rescues.
Secondly, these turtles are mishandled by both children and adults. It’s extremely stressful for turtles to be picked up the wrong way, dropped or left in buckets for hours, and to be scared into running towards the outer ring by the sound of buckets banging on the concrete. One way in which we can help the mishandling of these turtles is to ask the herpetological society or reptile rescues to give a brief presentation on how to handle turtles for an overall safer environment and more educated people. Another way in which we can help is to lure the turtles with food rather than scare them into walking away. This gives children the option of connecting with the animal in a fun way and they might even want to adopt a turtle at the end of it. Again, this would help with the overpopulation of captive Red-eared sliders.
I hope that you take my thoughts into consideration and we can move forward with creating a sustainable future with turtle racing involved.
Thank you,
This is an amazing letter to the city!!
This should be used on one of those copy paste send letter/petition sites. If that makes sense.. like back in the ajit pie wifi kerfuffle.
By using food I'm imagining something similar to donkeys with the carrots on a string. Maybe there would be a way to do something similar?
Perfect template
Send a similar letter to the editorial section of the local paper.
HALF of them die each summer??? Even if the city doesn't realize that the relocated turtles probably can't survive, these numbers should still be alarming
Actually 80% die cuz only 20% usually survive after being released into the wild
@@mabolob7966 did you read the comment? also your math is wrong, it's 90% after everything
Shouldn’t having half of them die during there time it captivity send the city a clear signal here that you A should never use wild caught turtles for entertainment B never let young children even hold a turtle without an adult or someone who knows how to properly handle a turtle help and C don’t have races with turtles on concrete and around a crown of humans yelling and cheering
No, half of them don't die. That's an extremely over-grossed estimate.
@@blobbertmcblob4888 Do you have any evidence suggesting otherwise? or are you just going to continue replying to every comment and justifying animal abuse?
Even if I were to grant your premise, wouldn’t you agree that *any* number of animals dying for entertainment purposes is wrong? like cmon man
I feel like instead of banging the buckets, they could lead them to their destination with food :D
Yea and do it in a giant water pool inside a building that is cooled to their normal temp but also with only captive bred ones
@@idorandomstuff6153 I don’t think that the kids would want to be in a pool of water It would make it not as popular and then making it less popular would make them get rid of it you can’t change everything about that event i used to live there and everybody loves it it’s one of the biggest parts of the summer.
@@raina7533 sry forgot to add that they should put the turtles there
@@idorandomstuff6153 yes they should find a better place for the turtles
@@raina7533 what could we reasonably get them to change about the event to make it more ethical /gen
I absolutely love Emily's hair!
But, this sounds horrifying! Imagine being grabbed from your home, tortured, and terrified, and then, if you survive, you probably won't even be returned to your own home
Yea...emilys hair and the PSA are the only good things about the video lol
Proud of her for being willing to ruffle those feathers.
Really tho. This is cruel and unusual punishment for the turtles. Ppl just do whatever for amusement.
@@kaylarodriguez7008 Even to encourage people taking wild life from the wild. When most laws tell you not to feed wild life let alone take wild life and torture it for racing. I wish they’d encourage alligator racing after a few kids lose their hands they’ll shut that down real quick.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. She has the perfect platform to really make those wheels squeak. Hopefully, the city isn't deaf.
It’s sad how she had to go in disguise because she told them this is animal abuse
@@kaylarodriguez7008 Yet you probably have pets, cats or dogs, that you force to stay inside and have had their organs removed.
The banging buckets gave ME anxiety. I can’t imagine how those turtles felt…😣😰
Same 😖
Oh my goodness! Same! I had to immediately pause the video because it became too hard to watch.
I'm genuinely glad you all get to live such comfortable lives that a bucket is capable of giving you anxiety.
Yea same... poor turtles...
Agreed! I recoiled from my desk when they started slamming the buckets on the ground. it was very upsetting.
This is sick 😔 it’s sad nobody realises the true pain of turtles. They are still living creatures! 🐢 PROTECT THE TURTLES 🐢
My son (7 years old) was sad to hear about the turtle racing. He says that it should stop. Thanks for raising awareness about this, we love your cannel!
This is literally disgusting. Those poor turtles are sooo stressed and scared because people are banging those buckets just to make them move. I can't believe a grownup would watch a kid drop a turtle multiple times and not do anything. I can't even believe that this is legal, like why would Minnesota let people do this and sell turtles at garage sales. People act like turtles are just objects not an actual living breathing thing. Thank you soooo much Emily and Ed for informing people on how this is bad and how to make these more Humane and not like literal animal abuse!
Yes! I appreciate their view on NOT eliminating them, but creating a safer option.
I TOTALLY agree
The adults are just as uneducated as the kids
I guess the adults don’t do anything about since they assume the turtles are protected by their shells when they fall :/
@Fiona Keneally I know right! Like why would you go take turtles out of their environment to scare and stress them out just for your entertainment. Literally horrible
My god, a lot of evil and cruel things are done in honor of “traditions”. Did y’all know that the town of Ypres, Belgium has a tradition of throwing cats from the top of a tower?!? Thankfully, using live cats was finally outlawed, and fabric cats took their place. The festival that’s held there now is supposed to be great for cat-lovers but man I can’t really imagine enjoying the festival much when it has that kind of history behind it…
I live in Belgium and I agree. Now it's more to respect cats and stuff but I was almost in tears when they first told me what really used to happen. We can celebrate our animals in different ways than keeping such horrid traditions alive, even if they are stuffed animals nowadays.
Yelville Arkansas used to do a yearly "Turkey Drop" where they literally dropped live turkeys from an airplane.
As an Spanish person, yes, a lot of horrible things are done because of tradition
Meow?!
[ they threw what of the tower?!]
This is why MOTHER EARTH IS TRY TO EXTERMINATE US WERE RUINING EARTH WITH POLUTION ANIMAL SLAUGHTER AND BUILDINGS LESS TREES AND EVEN MORE WILD FIRES
When i was really young, i thought that this was cool and i wanted to join… then i grew up and i realize that this is extremely harmful to these turtles and watching the events now makes me sick and wanting to cry
I’m so glad you are spreading awareness of this and I really hope that people realize this, this is literal abuse and it is horrible, I didn’t even know people did this and this just disgusts me that people do this, when those kids dropped those turtles I was shocked, I really hope this spreads
This “racing” is 100% abuse and for human entertainment only. It’s disgusting and cruel. Great educational video Emily!
I know! In my town we have one every year and kids cover the turtles in nail polish... its really sad.
@@R0ad.K1Ll it’s terrible.I would never attend one.I have a pet turtle myself so it’s so sad.
And I cannot believe that these kids are seriously taught to disrespect and be cruel to animals! The entire event is just terrible.
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!! Rather fitting isn't it.
Fr
From a psychological standpoint, I start to believe that the kids are growing less and less empathic towards animals due to these events. They're kids and they're more concerned about being embarrassed by having a slow turtle or more concerned about getting frustrated that the turtles are fighting back. They would never treat a dog this way, leading to a reinforcement of not caring about all animals, just a select few.
I think that humans have felt and acted that way towards animals for thousands of years. It’s hard to see kids using animals as toys, but I think overall we’ve made great advancements in empathy as a society. It wasn’t very long ago when it was the norm to see all animals as objects for labor or entertainment. So have hope that things are getting better! There will always be holdouts, especially in more traditional communities, but I think as a whole America is moving towards empathy, or at least fair treatment, for animals
if anything people - and kids are growing more and more empathic towards animals and it has nothing to do with things like that, and everything to do with improvement of life conditions
Honestly I agree thoughout the years i'm seeing more cruel acts on animals by children I mean geezus the amount of things I've seen done by children to animals is horrendous
This is pretty tame compared to burning ants to death or shooting frogs with a pellet gun.
@@ohrats731 Maybe, but factory farming has only continued to grow since the 70s. If we're saying all animals matter, then so do livestock.
Thank you for making this video! The footage was kind of hard to sit through after you briefed us about the stress it can cause on the turtles used. It just seems so cruel. I really hope you are able to get enough exposure to spark some change!
As a proud keeper of a rescued Eastern Painted, this frustrates me so much. Thank you for your activism.
So they take a WILD animal and scare the living crap out of them for fun? I thought it was illegal to take and have possession of wild animals? This is disgusting!
It's illegal, except when you are under 18 years of age and use them to race..
- dumbest..... exception..... to a rule..... ever...!
Agreed this is cruel and it disgusts me
UGH...who in the world made turtle races?!
It's illegal to collect wild reptiles in order to protect them....unless it's to torture them...then it's ok. Humans suck.
I've picked up wild snakes, frogs. And turtles ever since I was a kid but never treated them like this and never for too long most of the time was to move them out of the road so they wouldn't get hit by a car.
I can't even imagine how many turtles suffered from broken shells and tails. My heart aches for every single one of them.
You could see what looked like chips and chunks missing in the scan over the buckets. It was horrifying.
EXACTLY LIKE WHY TOTURE THEM WHEN YOU CAN BOIL THEM INTO A SOUP 🍜
@@lookatme4963 wtf
@@SolarStormm fine then boil me I’m delicious
I feel the same
That was hard to watch, it's mind-blowing that a crowd that large, with adults supervising, didn't see the cruelty in what they were doing, or didn't care. Those children were really being let down by the adults around them.
This is absolutely GUT WRENCHING!!!! BUT im so glad you made this video because i had NO IDEA and if more people knew then maybe more people would reach out and protest.. Or ask for changes or even just speak out about how it isnt okay with how its being done now. This is so sad and literally just a FEW changes could make things so much better. Teaching proper handling and education is a HUGE one. But also if they even just returned the turtles back to where they got them and kept the ones from different lakes separate it would be so so much better. A LOT MORE should be done as well.. But one inch at a time.. Too much change and people wouldnt be for it. I also think its so sad that fish and wild life commissions all over the country (USA) are making laws that aren't actually helping anything but making having a pet responsibly much harder and putting us through more hoops is horrid ESPECIALLY when this and other things like this that would help so much more!!!
This was horrific. It's honestly pretty hard to express my feelings on this with family-friendly language.
I know its also hard to express my feelings the same way u do too but just use these f###ing or f***ing dumb
Same
Nevermind making it more sustainable, they should just end the event altogether. Even if they switch to strictly captive turtles, improve participant handling, and provide adequate housing, making the turtles run out of the circle several times in a day is still going to require stressing them in some way. This is animal abuse, even if they remove the environmental impact from the equation.
@@prairiepanda I do think it might be alright if it was in (filtered, temperature-controlled) water, bring-your-own-pet to race just once or twice and then take it back home with you, in a regulated environment (ie, initially checking over the turtles to ensure they don't have any parasites they can spread to the other turtles, NOT encouraging people to be loud, watching for proper handling, etc), and if it used food as encouragement instead of fear. In those terms, it'd just be enrichment for the turtles, getting them exercise with a nice treat at the end.
However, I heavily agree that breeding turtles for the sole purpose of racing them every day multiple times a day, in a loud crowd, without any breaks, would just be stressful on those turtles at best. I don't think there'd be any way to keep things ethical if the turtles were bred and kept solely for racing that much, let alone keeping them from getting sick from overworking (and the risk of improper feeding schedules keeping track of that many turtles at once, and keeping track of who didn't make it to the end to get their food !) Plus, what happens if a turtle is no longer fit for racing, if that's the sole reason they were bred? That would be bound to happen, and with single-purpose commercial(?) animals, they tend to just get put down or thrown out once they no longer serve that purpose.
My jaw DROPPED when the announcer said that people could just leave the turtles they brought with them after the race. I don't know why that stuck with me so much, but it was at that point that I was like "oh they really just view these living creatures as objects ok ok cool cool cool...."
This is why you should go vegan. Think about it.
@@OhSoUnicornly No, it isn’t. Veganism has nothing to do with this.
@@OhSoUnicornly I'm vegetarian. I can see why you would make that connection- why should we be outraged by this and not by the treatment of animals in factory farms- but you're not really doing our cause any favors by trying to proselytize on random youtube comments.
@@OhSoUnicornly This has nothing to do with veganism. Stop being annoying.
Oh, only you could care for a turtle. Gotcha. Do you give them their own tv and exercise bike? What a horrible person if you don't.
Omg I haven’t had a notification for ur channel in forever i love ur blue/green hair 😭 ALSO THIS IS SO TRAGIC
I did see what I thought was a really good turtle race once down in Florida though it was run very differently, there were only three or four turtles and they were all privately owned and rather big. Their owners where there and talked to people about their turtle, the turtle were faced against Each other with food incentives to get them moving. People could make bets on who would win and just make donations. The event was to help raise money and awareness for the sea turtles that next on their beach. It actually really beautiful as the turtles were acting more as ambassadors for their more endangered cousins. The turtles were always safe, given temporary hides and water as well plenty of treats and if the turtles didn't want to be involved they were to big to be made otherwise, only one of the turtles was still small enough to be picked up by one person and they weren't racing that one just getting use to the environment and public.
I love how they're like "oops just slammed a living animal on the ground, oH WEll" 😔
No don't say that those kids at the event are legit Evil animal abusers it's like animals are in slavery 😡
I do care about wild life!
i feel really bad for the turtles
@@isabellaperez1861 they also care about wildlife also, they were being sarcastic they don’t actually like that hence the capitalization and emoji they were making a point
@@isabellaperez1861 I clicked on the replies bc I knew someone wouldn't get it was sarcasm.
How disgusting. As an axolotl owner (and a decent human being), all I could imagine was how the people running this would feel if they were collected from their house, put into buckets for months, forced into a race and then finally poked with a knife to go faster in the race.
It really is disgusting. Everyone included in these events are psychopaths, literally. Amused by the abuse of animals.
Perhaps I'm just fucked up but I kinda wanna see a race where the human participants are poked with knives now.
@@michaelyu2744 Yes I will join you
What's messed up is this is how people feel about all of this covid stuff so they know how it feels but they just can't connect the dots.
@@michaelyu2744 ya I agree
This video literally had me in tears at the level of cruelty and the number of people enthusiastically participating without saying anything. I really hope this video raises enough awareness to help make a change or stop this alltogether.
As a carer for my Grandturtle I am appalled at this event and never knew it existed. I love my 13yr grandturtle , he has so much personality and loves to be entertained by myself and his Poppa. We have been taking care of him for 3 years since his parents had to move out of the country for work. We as a family are committed to love and care for him for his entire life.
As a turtle owner myself I can not even begin to express my anger. When I saw the turtles being DROPPED i absolutely lost it.
Edit: some ideas I have is the only turtles that can be used HAVE to be captive bred, bucks can NOT be slammed, and anyone under the age of 11 has to have their turtle handled for them
Same
I agree
And if the handler or 12+ child still mishandles the turtles, they're disqualified for the rest of the event.
@@yourlocalgrubdog3345 yes.
That sounds like a much better and more humane idea than THAT!
It absolutely disgusts me that parents are allowing their children to mistreat animals this way. If this city did this with dogs and cats, there would be outrage. Why is it ok to treat turtles that way?
Then again greyhounds and horses are raced so maybe they wouldn't care
Turtles are difficult to empathise with, as they do not yowl or show pain. Their silence makes it easier to ignore. There is also a lack of training or mutual understanding as they are just seen as funny slow-moving pebbles, a once-off animal to race- there is no rapport, no interaction or bonding.
This has been going on since the parents were kids if not earlier. They were raised being taught it's ok.
exactly... that's the worst part about all of this. the handling and the stressing of the turtles. Some almost being thrown around.. while hundreds of parents are on the line clapping and cheering them on.
Yup, setting a great example for your kids there.... encouraging bad behaviour.. throw a turtle? get applause.. smack a bucket next to the turtles head? get cheers!!
how about you teach your kids some respect for animals...
@@icasticasticast My stepmom rescued a greyhound who that was mistreated in races. I don’t think they should be banned completely because it is what the breed is known for and many of the dogs are euthanized or sitting in over crowded kennels. Many do not get adopted because they they come from rough beginnings. I mean my stepmoms greyhound bit me in the face for no reason one time and bit one of the cleaning ladies. She had to get stitches for it. The dog was troubled for sure. Not always though, some race dogs are treated very well by their owners. As for the turtles it is a tradition and I feel it could also get better rather than completely removing it. Unfortunately, there is a Surprisingly big number of people who don’t care for animals or let alone reptiles and turtles. Even insects are treated terribly and put into death matches for our amusement.
I would love an update on this video if there is one.
This is heartbreaking. Humans can be so selfish and uneducated. I wish animals could speak or fight back against this cruelty. I hope these kind of events are banned. My heart sank as I viewed people’s actions against these poor creatures. They truly were running for their lives to no avail. Animals were here before our time and now have to cohabit with humans who are ruining their planet as well. They deserve our respect. RIP beautiful babies… Thank you Emily, hopefully you can change the perspectives of some people.
I say contact ACE Hardware Corp to inform them that there logo is possibly a false endorsement.
I like the fact that she isn’t just saying “GET RID OF THE THING YOU LOVE” she’s saying “Improve the thing you love, and here’s why you should”
tbf, it would be best if we didn't do it alltogether but it's great that Emily tries to see the opposite side's point of view
It’s very hard for an event like this not to be bad for the animals involved. And it’s extremely selfish to still want it to happen because you find it fun. Trust me, if people wouldn’t get defensive, she would be much harsher.
People unwilling to let go of harmful traditions because they simply like them are the scourge of society.
Much better than how PETA would handle it, that's for sure. By being reasonable like Emily, you can actually get people to listen to you and consider what you're saying. And maybe, just maybe, actually make a change for the better.
This makes it sound like this is something that’s only a little morally grey instead of literal psychopathic behavior.
The bucket tapping REEEEEEALLY hurt my heart. Evil. Evil "event".
Oh please. Calm your titties. It's far from the most evil thing ever.
@@blobbertmcblob4888 just because it’s not the most evil thing ever doesn’t make it any less evil than it is. I truly hope someday you’re able to expand the capacity to which you can empathize. It’s a living creature. Get a heart 🥰
@@blobbertmcblob4888 It is weird to write something like this on such a wholesome channel but did you just claim that it is fine to toss some turtles when I just say "at least i'm not Hitler"?
@@blobbertmcblob4888 that doesn’t mean it’s not bad. So if @ssault isn’t AS bad as murdeR does that means it’s not bad at all. Got it. 🤦♀️
@@blobbertmcblob4888 just because it’s not the worst doesn’t mean it isn’t cruel. it’s sad to see you have no compassion.
I'm from Southern MI and have seen Turtle races less than the fingers on 1 hand. The races I saw were NOTHING like this however. It was a breeder or something like that who had them. They had about a 10 or 15 foot table sort of thing with separate lanes. The lanes were slightly angled and water flowed down the lanes. He had many many turtles that he raised and would only do a handful of races each day. People would pay to rent a Turtle and only the handler handled them. They started in a little box just like horse races and off they went. That's the only type of Turtle racing that I've ever seen and it's very rare and I stopped seeing it about 10 years ago. I have no idea of laws changed or if it's just not popular here anymore. I had no idea that Turtle racing could be like this this. It makes me so sad.
I guess there are unethical and ethical turtle races. The one you saw was the ethical version thankfully :)
Watching this led me to contact the mayor and city council of a town in MN (Nisswa) where I have been an annual visitor, and where turtle races still happen. I will let you know how it goes.
Hopefully it went well...?
“After the race you can put your turtles over here” EXCUSE ME! He’s talking as though these living creatures are objects that you can just throw away!
It’s sad I know wish we could stop it
Well.. that's how they're treated, so, yeah, the eventer fully do believe they're just objects to throw away.
Why would you even race turtles anyway? I feel like that would be the most boring thing to watch ever
Did you know turtle are REALLY fast put one on a tredmill it will run lol
Turtles are fast, but tortoises on the other hand..........
Ikr? And of course I don't have the patience for that.
It's like the spongebob episode where they race snails... literally the same things
Love your profile picture
Using captive-bred turtles for turtle racing sounds like a great idea. I’m a born and raised Minnesotan (though turtle racing isn’t popular in my area), and I think that as people we have a responsibility to keep traditions alive without needlessly killing wild animals.
I also had a wild turtle as a pet for a time. His name was Fred. He was a good turtle. My dad found him on the roadside once, and we decided to keep him. Eventually we realized he was unhealthy in captivity and let him go.
I wonder if painted turtles can be bred specifically for racing. Like selecting for the fastest turtles every year in order to make the turtles faster and faster. In order to avoid conflicting with the breeding season, I think it’d be good to do these races in spring instead of summer.
When I was a kid, my hometown held “turtle races” rules were that you could only use turtles taken from a lake that was at the edge of town (so no one used their pet or an invasive species from somewhere else) you could only get the turtles within a few days before the race (so no one would have a wild caught turtle for longer than a day or so) and the race was held in the parking lot of the nursing home that was on a hill that overlooked the lake the turtles were from and the DNR agents tagged and counted them and looked them over to make sure they were healthy.
We then placed bets on which turtle would get back to the lake first when they were all released at once.
It was more of a “community helps with census of local turtles” than “bored teenagers and grownups handing small children wild turtles and telling them to chase them across the parking lot while banging a bucket on the ground for our entertainment”.
However ours only lasted two years before the DNR agents and other officials realized how many people caught turtles too far in advance or tried to leave with turtles because they wanted to make them into pets and stopped it.
Snails during snail races are treated better then these Turtles!!!
Geesus!
true.
Omgosh is that is so true!
Me thinking about napstablock
I’m getting pretty tired of “traditions” of exploiting and abusing animals
Me to
Yeah it’s pretty sad
Me too! It's terrible. One of the things I try to do in my business is to educate people so that they know what is cruel and what is not.
Just remember when you where a kid you woulda died to do the race.
This is nothing compared to what happens in other countries. It's not great, sure. But it is pretty tame compared to what goes on in literally most other countries. Please speak out and make sure those organizers of these events make sure the reptiles and amphibians have safe conditions during the events, but trying to cancel them completely will then not draw kids who would "get into" reptiles via these events.
Seems like a great environment to spread a message of compassion maybe?
As an animal lover & do a lot of reptile rescues, I would love for them to send those turtles to me. They would definitely be re-located to their natural habitats. Watching animal cruelty makes my blood boil. Humans are the real monsters. Hopefully more people bring awareness to these kind of behaviors towards animals. Thanks for this video, l definitely be bringing this topic up during my reptile shows as well. Keep up the good work you guys!!
I am so glad you filmed this video to help the turtles because I had no idea this was happening
Them banging the buckets like that made my anxiety spike immediately, like...do none of these people realize how much stress that can cause the turtles? Or the fact you can accidentally hurt them like that? I was terrified *for* those turtles, poor things :(
How the hell is this not considered a form of animal abuse?
I was legit waiting for a bucket to go too far forward. 😢 I did see a tail get hit, but thankfully no full back smacks.
when i saw it.... i was mortified. how would u like to be chased and scared by a bucket that u would feel could freakin crush u.
I was horrified when I saw people dropping the turtles and just mistreating them horribly
me too ToT
Me too, my heart literally stoped for a moment because i got so scared that the turtle got hurt
I cant even warch this whole video that is absolutely sickening. Thank you gor bringing awareness and educating people on whu this is such a horrific thing to do.
Thank you for this. As someone who has gone to Nisswa for several years, I appreciate this.
what a wonderful thing they are teaching all those children, " oh yes kiddos animal abuse is completely ok and great fun, please feel free to go throw some turtles around" I feel sick watching this....
Yes
I felt physically sick watching this poor babies
Same here
Thank you!! Warching the turtles be scared to death was a horrible thing to see but my mind is going to the children who are participating in this. These people are basically teaching their kids that it ok to take turtles from the wild and not retreat them well
Thing is, I doubt most of them have any idea it's abuse. Turtles are well known for being tough, so dropping them gets ignored. And since they don't cry out or show facial expressions, the average person doesn't recognize they are stressed.
As SOON as they started hitting the buckets on the ground, I new this was going to be bad
Yep. I was worried some kid would end up smashing one of the turtles because they were banging those buckets so hard.
This is so sad 🥺😢but I’m happy you guys made this video to help people realize how harmful this event really is to the poor turtles❤ love your channel 😁😊❤️😘
The 1st thing that went through my mind was the contamination between the "pet" turtles and wild caught turtles.
It's actually really disturbing how these people treat these animals as toys and see no wrong in doing so.
Thank you for bringing light to the situation hopefully people from the event will see this video and change their ways.
Yeah the disposable way some folks are treating these turtles is heartbreaking:c
Just because the turtles aren't verbally screaming in pain doesn't mean they're okay. We ain't see people doing this with mammals that can cry or scream. They chose turtles because they can choose to pretend they're okay to scare and drop because they don't cry or scream.
@@melanieyu894 come on. we have factory farming, ponies used for children entertainment during festivals, animal circuses, bull fights, cats&dogs being killed in shelters, etc.
i know this turtle race isn't nice to watch but it's pretty low on the list of accepted animal cruelty in the western world, and most victims are mammals not reptiles.
@@XLightChanX I never said any of what you listed are okay either. I think what's off putting about this video that made it difficult to watch is just how involved people were. With things like factory farming, many people don't know or don't believe and it's behind closed doors (I know, internet, but lots of people avoid looking at images because they think ignorance is bliss). Circuses, the animals are painted into a picture of happy. They don't often show signs of distress to an untrained eye. Cats and dogs in shelters are killed humanely using sedatives, and again, behind closed doors. Bull fights are equally disgusting and off putting. I think my point is, this was difficult to watch, and so are many other things, and it's quite unfair to mention other events of animal cruelty to disregard the pain felt by the animals in this video. That's like saying "oh it's not that bad cause there's worse out there."
@@XLightChanX (that was a long reply and I hope it doesn't come across rude... I'm just trying to make a point, ain't trying to start an argument or be mean so I'm sorry if it comes across rude... I'm just really passionate about all animals in general)
At first I thought “oh ok the kids are mishandling them and perhaps they could ease up on the bucket smashing”. But OVER 50 PERCENT DIE IN CAPTIVITY?! And no one is bothered by this??? I would be upset if even 10% were dying.
I would be upset if it was even 1% didn’t survive
poor turtles.this really is animal abuse
@@bunster73 i agree. But with 1% you can’t really prove it’s the environment they’re living in while participating in these races or if it was caused by something else.
Just sent this email to all Perham City council members: Hello, I have just discovered your long-standing tradition of having children race turtles. While I understand this is meant to be a wholesome family event that the community has long enjoyed, as a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor I am concerned about the psychological harm this does to the children. The lack of empathy and encouraged abuse from their family and community to treat animals they can have power over so cruelly can lead to concerning anti-social behaviors in those children.
Would you please consider having the children make their own turtle costumes and have the children run races instead? Prizes can be given to most creative costuming, fastest, etc. Perhaps you could bring in a Reptile Educator who could bring all sorts of turtles and educate the kiddos. This would be a delightful and empowering event that could be enjoyed by the whole community. Then, not only will the children have fun, they will learn to care for animals rather than scare them into entertaining in a callous way.
Thank you for considering my suggestions and I look forward to visiting your fair town and spending my money in your local shops once I find out children are no longer being encouraged to do harm to wildlife.
Most Respectfully,
Kimber Dillon
li totally understand your feelings and thoughts to the turtles but they have been doing this here for years and issues should be taken uo with the chamber people not volunteers just helping out. i love turtles myself but if parents would teach them how to handle them would be a big help. animals are beautiful and dont want them hurt for sure. it can be a fun family affair if taken care of right. i agree peta is worried about these turtles as i am too.but take it up with the perham commerce please. enough said. tx.
This is a tradition in Nisswa MN too, I live in a neighboring town and Whenever we go shopping there when they are doing the races I always go somewhere else till it's done. Thank you for doing this!!
I hate how some humans think of turtles as toys. It's disgusting. People need to realize that turtles are creatures who CAN get hurt (especially when dropped onto hard concrete). Emily, thank you for going over this.
That happens with so many other animals as well and it's terrible. People literally make animals suffer for their own entertainment value and think it's okay because "iT's JuSt A (whatever animal). I mean, animals have feelings too!!
@@BedrockIsGone Exactly!
Imagine thinking a being who feels pain and fear is said that they are just "a turtle"
Well..you are just a human, a cruel one at that.
Mhm , idk how people could do this
And us, being the most intelligent creature should understand that it’s mistreatment
@@winnie5873 gonna say it like this: Himans are the smartest and yet the dumbest creature on this planet.
I do see the issue but also they are kids. And I'm glad that she made a video because these kids should know that it is harmful. And that kids should stop because once they get older they might end up abusing other animals.
I’m in tears… How could this animal cruelty be allowed?!😭
As a lifelong Minnesotan, I really appreciated your coverage of turtle racing.
Love how feather collecting for most bird species is illegal and yet we still have this…
Traumatizing turtles no one bats an eye... finds a bald eagle feather on the ground and everyone looses thier minds...
If I find a dead hawk on the side of the road, that's a no no, but if I murder 90 wild native turtles it's family fun!
If there was a history of going out into the wild and mass culling turtles for their shells... then there'd be more laws. There IS a history of birds being plucked and trapped and left to die just for their feathers. While the turtle racing is cruel, the turtles aren't being caught with the intent of killing them and that's the difference and why you can't compare the two.
@@Chaotic_Pixie Right, so if I get a dog with the intention of brutally torturing it for my entertainment, it's fine provided I don't keep a souvenir? This is more or less the equivalent to comparing the dog meat trade to the dog fighting trade - neither should be legal. We are seeing species and ecosystem damage right here, right now.
@@Chaotic_Pixie the MBTA has not significantly reduced poaching rates since it's introduction. People still kill birds for their feathers, but the MBTA doesn't and hasn't protected birds the way the govt wants it to. Instead, it punishes the common folk for having an interest in birds by fining and jailing individuals for owning feathers, bones, and nests which they found outside or got from legal taxidermy.
ALSO, there IS history of turtles being culled for their shells. Turtle soup, native american crafts, knockoff native crafts, etc. People just DO NOT care about reptiles. This is why we STILL have rattlesnake roundups and mass culling of snakes by "scared" people. People aren't educated, people DON'T care, and people DO NOT see reptiles as worthy of their care. People see birds and think they are special, especially the bald eagle (patriotism), but someone sees a turtle, snake, or lizard and thinks it's a gross pest.
The turtles might not be intentionally killed, HOWEVER, they *still* die. Turtle races and the wild collection of turtles for this **clear** abuse needs repercussions to prevent it.
Honestly this makes me cry it's so horrible how can they think this is okay thank you for bringing awareness to this
I was waiting for one of those turtles to get smacked with the bucket... I knew it would probably be bad, but I didn't think it could be so terrible. Releasing pets back to the wild?! *Encouraging* people to catch wild and let children just throw them around?!
I'll admit, when I was little my family liked to fish - and during one trip, we found a few baby turtles. There were some canoes nearby, so we held a few mini races on those, except we didn't toss them, bang on things, or push them. Made extra sure they didn't fall and we put them right back where we found them. Granted, looking back, we shouldn't have done that at all, to be fair... but we didn't even hang on it for too long, because we were there to fish.
This is so sad. I really hope they changed the laws to protect those poor turtles :(
This genuinely made me cry. I can't imagine going through all the pain and stress of being force to run in the heat, banged up and thrown around, stressed, confused, scared, starving and the creature in control's excuse is "They're just turtle. You're all being Karen's. Everybody is so easily offended these days. It's a tradition."
A life is a life and none deserve to suffer for any reason.
Ikr!? I can’t explain how angry I am about this
With my reptile I cant even put them in their tank by hand without being scared I'd drop them so I put them in a pot and put it in the tank I would never treat my boi cheese like this
@@idorandomstuff6153ur babys name is cheese aww
Generally a turtle/tortoise race from anywhere around here would be you placing down your pet turtle at one end off a track and having someone shake some lettuce or other turtle food at the other end (sometimes it's just a pile) which is just harmless fun to do with your pet. So I was kinda confused initially in this video but this is not good it sucks that they're doing it this way when it can so easily be done without causing harm :(
Yes they have to work(just a little) for those treats lol we can’t have overweight or spoiled turtles/tortoises
And provide shade for the turtles
I would much rather watch a turtle race that involved their owners shaking food at them rather than have strangers scare them by banging a bucket. I know I wouldn't like being scared into moving faster. But then thinking how much fun would it be to see someone like Ed waving lettuce at a turtle like Chloe and yelling out in excited baby noises to coax her to the finish line? XD Priceless!
I was thinking of what I did once as a kid at a sea turtle conservation where we used baby sea turtles and let them go to the ocean. I don't think we actually held them even.
As an MN native, this has been such a problem my whole life. I went once in Nisswa and was so upset...this really needs to change.
I love painted turtles, and these are clearly in need of better care, particularly with that mortality rate you cited. I am glad you are trying to build bridges instead of just attacking the event, in the long run that will be better for both turtles and people -- properly managed, I can see something like this really being an opportunity for people to learn about these amazing animals.
the fact that the parents let the kids handle the turtles like toys. AND THE FACT THAT PARENTS EVEN DO THE RACE AND DON'T THINK ANYTHING OF IT. This is downright gross.
I agree
Just nuke MN, might as well right.
I am astounded by how much worse this was than Emily's initial description was. They're not even just bribing the turtles with food, they're being scared with buckets.
I could see how something like turtle races could have a positive impact on the herp & reptile community by means of educating good husbandry and conservation to the youth and their parents. Using captive bred turtles would fix the feeding issue, the handling would be improved by education and maybe changing the brick out for some grass. The overall handling of the turtles could be improved. Not specifically the dropping, but the way the race starts could be done with a box and gate. The majority of the handling for the race could be handled by the Race Staff and the contestants (kids) could be at the outer circle with a small piece of food or treat to encourage the turtle to the outer ring. At the beginning and end of the race season, they could have weekends for vendors to show up to help the Reptile community grow (and the city would profit as well). On the same weekends maybe have herps as speakers to discuss topics for those new to the community as well as have some speakers to talk about more advanced topics. If it seems like it sounds like a bigger event than a town of 3,000, then consider the turtle races as an opportunity for Perham to grow their tourism, population, attractions, and more.
A fram in my state had a great way to combat these kind of races and make it more like a true competition. Kids will race rubber duckies using a hand pump so the faster the kid pumps, the more water there is to flush the rubber duckie faster. No animals harmed, it gets you worker hard, and anyone can do it for free to little cost.
Same with Bullfrog races. My small town has an annual one every year. The bullfrogs are almost always wild caught and afterwards are often killed, I’ve even seen people throw them in the trash alive
Nooooooo frogs r so coot tho :(
How.... How can people do stuff like that.....
I never knew that existed. Poor bullfrogs though… I really hate how humanity is just very uncaring and horrible.
I guess some ppl care and it like others don't care at all about the animals I love all animals
Why are people so cruel,I don’t get it😭😭
Instead of using real living breathing creatures just use hexbugs, hexbugs are super fun and people could do subtle modifications to make them go faster
No lie I would actually love that
my school used to have hexbug races. was a lot fun especially when the little buggers go haywire off the track
You need more likes and replies on this comment as it’s a great idea
I looked them up. Very cool
I used to love hexbugs and used to get the big tracks and loads of battery's on my birthdayd
The way he says "return your turtles right over there" like they're tennis balls and not living things that are terrified and just want to get away from this crowd of ignorant apes - it's just gross.
Edit: When I made this comment it was right at the start of the video... I'm now at 4:30 and already mortified at the abysmal treatment of these animals. Obviously it's not the kids fault, they should be taught to respect wildlife but clearly don't know any better. This event needs to be completely banned, no questions asked. I don't care if it's "tradition" - torturing wild animals for your own enjoyment is not something that should be celebrated year after year. Thank you for exposing this and trying to do something about it.
Wow, that is pretty disgusting 😠 They drop, hit, scare and possibly traumatized them poor things 😢 I truly hope that this video helps on stopping this horrible situation
This is heartbreaking, the turtles want to go home that is why they're racing... as well as if they aren't moving they're petrified of all the nonsense commotion going on created by humans. Thank you for bringing light to this Emily and Ed.
I made the like count 30 ;)
They could literally just create an RC car race where contestants decorate their cars up as turtles. Or anything else. Literally anything else.
Nice idea!
But they would need a lot of space because of how fast the RC cars usually are. And what if a certain brand is faster? But its still a great idea.
@and its enviormentally friendly!
and if people still want to see turtles, they could take some from rescues and have a little thing where kids can hold them and stuff with supervision. I went to a thing once for snakes and spiders, where people could hold them and be educated about them. Rc cars on one side, little turtle exhibit on the other.
@@freddy1940 YES’
@@freddy1940 and they could use the event to promote conservation in their area
I have some ideas
1. Children younger than 8 need a parent to help them race
2. Everyone participating in the race has to also participate in a quick lesson of how to carefully handle the turtles.
3. There is a set of volunteers to watch the racers and any racers mishandling their turtles is disqualified and banned from racing for the week. Permanently banned for the summer after 3rd offense.
4. Rather than the circle, create turtle runs and instead of scaring them forward, have a treat on a stick that you must use to entice the turtles forward.
I really like your idea about turtle rescues sponsoring the event. Although the turtle races have a lot of problems it's obviously a tradition that the city holds dear and it would be wonderful if they were able to continue in a more ethical manner.
This is so messed up :( I’m glad you made a video to spread awareness of how wrong this is
The timing of this is almost perfect, there's a city council meeting the second week of July so the feedback they get from the emails should be fresh in their minds and has enough time to build up.
Let's hope
I do hope they get loads of emails and take the criticism and suggestions into consideration.
I'm sure that's not news to the creators :) they're pretty crafty
I hope this gets to be top comment and it helps more ppl email.
Hmmm you know I know ResistBot on Twitter usually deals with the higher offices of government, but it might have some resources for reaching out to local officials too. I’m not sure, but just a thought.
idk if this was heard... but at the beginning of the whole announcement for the race, they said that the participates could take a turtle home if they wanted. So, not only are they taken from the wild, not kept right, and used really badly, they're encouraged to be taken home.
I noticed that too! All around terrible practice
I doubt they did any research about turtle care so they’re most likely going to die
@@RC.- especially that they're wild caught, not raised in captivity
A turtle race(in mn) was the way I got turtles when I was a kid and I definitely should not have gotten them. They lived for around 5 years but not how they should've. I feel bad about it every time I think about it
@@sillygoose2785 it’s all about growth. at leas you know now
This is disgusting and it was so hard to watch. What's worse is that the kids often race them without parent supervision and kids dont understand how to handle and treat these turtles. and when that turtle was drop on its back I audibly gasped it's awful. I don't think many of them know but heavy stress levels can straight up kill some reptiles. I don't know for certain about these turtles but I know plenty of other reptiles can't handle stress and literally end up dying as a result. I'm praying that we are able to fix this or at least improve the current condition of things. The sad thing is, a lot of people just don't care about the animals and it's truly sad. Not all of them don't care but a lot of them don't. And it's not like we can expect young children to understand that but once again THATS WHY THERE NEEDS TO BE ADULT SUPERVISION! Thank you for shedding light on this huge mistreatment of turtles and the sad reality of these sort of events. Love the work you guys do ❤️
This honestly killed me on the inside. I have about 7 of these kinds of turtles and it makes me so sad.
i live in a buddhist community in illinois. My friend went to one of these. He thought it was going to be a harmless race that people could do with they’re pet turtle. When he went there he spoke up and was kicked out. Absolutely stupid tradition. Glad to see you speaking up.
That's what I though when I started watching the video, that it was people with their pets having a chill time with the turtules
Really just for speaking up your friend got kicked out wow WOW that’s just shows that they don’t want you to reveal the truth about this kind of stuff
I didn’t even know this was a thing. How could people let their children do this?
Because there registered phycopaths
Sometimes even parents don't do their research and don't realize how bad this is
@@NebelKothbauer That too 😂
Considering they said the tradition has been going on for at least 40 years, I would say they let their kids do this because their parents let them do that. To them, it's normal and accepted, even though in reality it's horrible animal abuse. You would need to change the parents and grandparents views before even hoping the kids will listen, which is NOT easy now a days. Sure some kids will realize how bad it is, but most won't unless their family cracks down on them, especially if they're too young to know the difference between right and wrong. It takes genuine effort to fix a community wide tradition.
Because, as another person pointed out, these people think “it’s just a turtle” and dismiss its suffering.
Literally sobbed watching this. Why are we so cruel to animals? This needs to stop! I noticed Dairy Queen on the promoting signs for this. Perhaps we flood them with messages condemning this practice! I love your solutions to allowing the tradition to remain without harming nature.
This is disgusting and the parents and organizers of this event should be ashamed of themselves how awful they are on camera being horrible to the turtles!!
You’d think once they start dying they would stop
“Oh, wild turtles are being abused and consequentially dying and it could be stopped by just NOT racing turtles?”
…
“Nah.”
Yeh
Ikr
@@sliceofgarlicbread most likely not but it would do a big difference.
I was horrified, I have never heard of something like this before. I assumed too that they would be kept for only one day and then reliesed and I was absolutely disgusted to hear that they keep them in a prison the whole summer. Once again human stupidity makes themj do evil things.
90% mortality? Yup, that's a blood sport.
Except that the mortality rate isn't 90%. This is an inflated, biased and very activist-style video that feels nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking.
Remember: these folks, as much as I love them, own a store where they breed and sell reptiles. Which of course you must be aware that they have no control over who buys their animals and what they do with them.
@@blobbertmcblob4888 it’s not biased nitpicking, the video so very obviously exploits the animal abuse that is taking place in a part of our country that most people don’t even know exists. Which highlights the extent to which animal abuse is so imbedded in society. It’s not like we’re relying on testimony, the proof is right there. And as far as these wonderful people, they’ve been pouring their energy into educating the public long before they started breeding. You don’t need to attack the people working to raise awareness just because you don’t think it’s important. If YOU don’t think it’s important, then go do something that is. But being miserable is doing nothing for society ✨
@@blobbertmcblob4888 I’d like to point out that they DO in fact have control over who buys their animals. Interviews are conducted and they have the right to deny sale.
@@blobbertmcblob4888 Do you have evidence that the mortality rate isnt 90%? The rate can be less than 1% it still isn’t right. You keep trying to justify animal abuse come on man
@@blobbertmcblob4888 I mean they did have video evidence of turtles getting abused that may very well affect their lifespan to a much shorter degree than normal.
This is disgusting. I’m truly amazed that this is something they’ve gotten away with so long. Great way to treat children to disrespect nature. Great video to bring awareness to such a horrid event.
The second I saw them banging the buckets to move the turtles quick enough, I knew this video was justified in every form. Humans need to stop mistreating animals as a whole. Using them for baseless entertainment is a great place to start.