Tescos kill Turtles and Tortoises

[Adrian Kelland]

Originally Posted by Howard Payne

Bloody Tescos - you can't get a Turtle Byriani over here - that's blatant discrimination that is

Turn it upside down and you have a Balti

If the animals are farmed then the source is far better than taken from the wild.

The killing may be another matter. By our standards.

Adrian

[ahar]

I bet they're farmed - there are lots of turtle and tortoise farms in China and they eat the bloody things by the dozen. These aren't the big turtles that you think of you might see when diving - they're much smaller and like the kind you may have in a pond in your garden.
There are also farms that breed creepy crawlies such as silk worms, weevels and crickets for sale as well. Must admit that I was a bit of wimp and didn't try all that was on offer while I was there!

As for welfare, can't see much difference between that and keeping live lobsters in a supermarket and then boiling them alive. Lobsters... yum yum!

[Stephen]

"I bet they're farmed -"

I very much dioubt that they are farmed- To make it worthwhile farming something it has to have a reasonable or fast growth rate and the growth rate of land chelonids is very slow. From my experience in east and south-east Asia these animals are collected from the wild - making them exceedingly rare. They were being imported from Vietnam last I was there.

I,ll try and check it out the farming thing and get back to you.

[tom]

According to Tesco they are farmed:

Tesco said it was not true to say there were no regulations in China. A statement from the firm said its stores in China only used farmed turtles and frogs which are not caught in the wild and are "therefore sourced in a sustainable way and do not cause damage to endangered populations".

( Beijing Tesco draws animal activists' ire | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited - the news item is worth reading for some of the welfare comments though).

[Stephen]

As far as I can tell from my professional colleagues involved in chelonid conservation the species are Chinese Softshell Turtles, Pelodiscus sinensis farmed in Japan, with some imported hatchlings of the US softshell species, and maybe farming, in China.

I,m glad to say that this appears to generally have little impact on wild populations, but there is a targeted demand for wild-collected animals to add high-quality broodstock which can have an impact.

I,m pleased to be wrong about the farming – that just leaves the welfare- which is another issue.

[Howard Payne]

Mmmmm Balti. Turtle Balti with strips of smoked Dolphin drizzled with a Tortoise jus

[principia]

Shredded panda spring rolls for starters.

J.

[Scubee]

Originally Posted by Howard Payne

Mmmmm Balti. Turtle Balti with strips of smoked Dolphin drizzled with a Tortoise jus

no doubt followed up by Shark Fin Soup

[Howard Payne]

Force fin soup - very rare - almost pink in fact

[JohnK]

I think its something to do with the chinese culture - they eat ikkle turtles, we eat ikkle lambs, pigs and moo cows. Whats the problem ?? (Sorry - forgot to mention chickens, ducks - crispy or not - geese, other fowl, deer etc etc etc)