baby snapper

Question
a friend of mine had bred a bunch of baby snappers. and dumped one on me.  
can they be released back into the wild? it has been in captivity  its whole life.. i
also have all the proper equipment to take care of it.

Answer
Hi Marcos,

The only way a pet turtle can be released back into the wild is if you leave it with a wildlife rehabilitator.  If they can't rehabilitate the turtle, then it will need to remain a pet, but I'd at least ask.  If the turtle is a native to the area, and healthy, you might even say you can release him, who knows (one of the concerns is that pet turtles can bring diseases into the wild population).

I'm a little confused that you say you have the equipment to take care of him, but consider him "dumped" on you.  Did you mean to say that you DON'T have the equipment?

You can also try to adopt him out to someone who already owns snappers and knows how to care for him, that is the other option (this might take awhile to find him a home).

Here is a link if you want more information and want to keep him as a pet:

http://www.chelydra.org/

I would have a serious talk with your friend about breeding snappers.  If he has to dump them on his friends, he needs to stop breeding turtles!  I'd try contacting your local animal shelter if he won't stop (they would know about the law) or a local animal rights group.  They might be able to at least scare him into stopping.  Snappers are not easy pets to "dump" on people as you know!

Thanks so much for writing,
Amanda