{"id":8820,"date":"2015-07-02T11:31:13","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T15:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=8820"},"modified":"2015-07-02T11:31:13","modified_gmt":"2015-07-02T15:31:13","slug":"turtle-derbies-pose-dangers-for-humans-and-herps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2015\/07\/02\/turtle-derbies-pose-dangers-for-humans-and-herps\/","title":{"rendered":"Turtle Derbies Pose Dangers for Humans and Herps"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/07\/Eastern-Box-Turtle-Terrapene-carolina-carolina0068-300x185.jpg\" alt=\"Eastern box turtle \" width=\"300\" height=\"185\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eastern Box Turtle<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Turtle races or derbies are part of many Fourth of July celebrations, but the Maryland Department of Natural Resources cautions that these events pose a health risk to captive turtles, wild turtles and human participants.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Some turtles raced in derbies are collected from the wild and, if diseased, can infect pet or other wild turtles when released. A particular concern is\u00a0<em>Ranavirus<\/em>, an emerging infectious disease that has caused localized die-offs in Eastern Box Turtles, other native turtles, and some frogs and salamanders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hope all Marylanders have a safe and happy holiday, and that they enjoy the wonder of wild turtles and frogs without the health risks associated with these events,\u201d said Jonathan McKnight, associate director of DNR\u2019s Wildlife &amp; Heritage Service. \u201cHowever, if you are planning to participate, we urge that you help protect\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/dnr2.maryland.gov\/wildlife\/Pages\/plants_wildlife\/herps\/index.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Maryland\u2019s wild reptiles and amphibians<\/a>\u00a0from disease by using only pet turtles, and not releasing them into the wild.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turtles can also spread diseases to humans, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/Features\/SalmonellaFrogTurtle\/\" target=\"_blank\">especially <em>Salmonella<\/em><\/a>. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently documented eight outbreaks of <em>Salmonella<\/em> infections in humans, all of which were associated with exposure to small pet turtles. Because of this risk, the sale or possession of turtles with a carapace (topshell) length less than 4 inches has been illegal in the U.S. since 1975. However, turtles and frogs of all sizes are potential carriers of <em>Salmonella<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>To prevent <em>Salmonella<\/em> infection, wash hands thoroughly with soap and water immediately after handling these animals or their cage, aquarium or tank. Children under 5 years old, the elderly, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems are at highest risk for <em>Salmonella <\/em>infections and should avoid contact altogether.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarylanders are reminded that it\u2019s against the law to release any reptile or amphibian into the wild without written authorization from DNR. It is also illegal to release into the wild any reptile or amphibian that has been captively-produced or is not native to Maryland,\u201d said Cpl. Mike Lathroum, a reptile and amphibian enforcement expert with the Maryland Natural Resources Police.<\/p>\n<p>More information on Maryland\u2019s 19 species of native turtles is available <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr2.maryland.gov\/wildlife\/Pages\/plants_wildlife\/herps\/FieldGuide_OrderTestudines.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>Keep up to date with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maryland.gov\/wildlife\/\" target=\"_blank\">DNR\u2019s Wildlife\u00a0and Heritage<\/a> Service on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/MD-DNR-Wildlife-Heritage-Service\/264705513668546?ref=hl\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> and Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MDDNRWildlife\">@MDDNRWildlife<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Turtle races or derbies are part of many Fourth of July celebrations, but the Maryland Department of Natural Resources cautions that these events pose a health risk to captive turtles, wild turtles and human participants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,14,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-nrp-news","category-wildlife"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8821,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8820\/revisions\/8821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}