Seaquarium Staff lunched on Turtle

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SEAQUARIUM LUNCHED ON TURTLE

 

from the National Post (http://www.nationalpost.com)

 

'They ate a patient,' dolphin activist says

 

 

Mary Vallis

National Post

 

A Florida lawyer may sue the Miami Seaquarium after learning its employees

lunched on an endangered turtle they had originally tried to save.

 

" I don't know why people in the business would display such an appalling lack of

sensitivity towards animals in their care, but they did, " said Mary O'Donnell, a

Boca Raton lawyer who works with the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

 

Activists dubbed the aquarium " the Miami Seaquarium and Barbeque " after the

turtle-eating affair came to light last week.

 

" This is a facility that portrays itself as a saviour of animals, a refuge, a

turtle hospital, " said Russ Rector, president of the Dolphin Freedom Foundation.

 

" They ate a patient. "

 

Members of the Miami Beach Patrol found the 800-pound leatherback struggling in

the deep water off Miami Beach last April. A boat's propeller had gouged the

turtle's thick shell seven times, so they captured it and took it to the

aquarium for treatment.

 

The turtle, a female bearing eggs, died from its injuries minutes after she was

transferred to a holding tank.

 

Ryan Stollmeyer, an animal care assistant, asked a veterinarian for a chunk of

the turtle's meat to take home. A turtle keeper who overheard the exchange

assumed he was kidding.

 

" [He] was talking about taking some of the leatherback being necropsied home to

make stew with, " Meghan Conti, who has since left the aquarium, wrote in a

letter to wildlife authorities.

 

" I was invited over for some stew, and I declined, still under the impression

that it was a joke. "

 

Mr. Stollmeyer took three bags of leatherback meat out of the aquarium with the

consent of Dr. Maya Dougherty, the aquarium's veterinarian, and Chris Plante,

his supervisor, Ms. Conti reported.

 

The following day, Mr. Stollmeyer shared leftovers from his turtle meal with Mr.

Plante during their lunch break.

 

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigated the incident,

but no charges were filed. The state permit governing the aquarium's dead turtle

disposal was vague in its wording, said Lieutenant John West, an investigating

officer.

 

Robert Rose, the aquarium's curator, circulated a memo reminding staff not to

eat the animals.

 

" It's an outrageous event, " he said.

 

" There's nothing legally wrong with what we did, but it's an ethical issue. As

the caretakers of animals, we need to be responsible for them both alive and

dead. "

 

Ms. O'Donnell, however, said a review of the aquarium's files could give rise to

a lawsuit focusing on its treatment of wildlife. She would represent leatherback

turtles, as a species, in court.

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