Softshell Turtles for sale

Prompted by a facebook post, which depicted a softshell turtle the author had bought at a local grocery store for $5.99 (he was excited to make turtle soup), I decided to do some "investigative reporting". After some hunting, I found a pile of softshell turtles in the seafood isle of a London international  grocery store.  I took some pictures and stealthed away.

According to Lake Region Audubon (http://lakeregionaudubon.org/articles/whats_killing_our_wildlife/whats_killing_our_wildlife.html):

"For years, the Florida softshell turtles were over-harvested  to supply the Asian market.   In 2008, the Florida Fish & Wildlife estimated that more than 3,000 pounds of softshell meat were being flown out of the Tampa International Airport with thousands more from other major airports. Finally, in 2009, alarmed by the abrupt decline, the FWC approved a new rule for commercial harvesting of turtles as well as individual species protection."

A google search led me to conclude that that the turtles are likely farmed  (Photo of Chinese Softshell Turtle).  Chinese Softshell Turtles, not our native and beloved Spiny Softshell turtles. I also found many bags ($3.00/bag) of Chinese Mystery Snail for sale (see previous post).  I didn't take pictures, as these were in the live food area, where multiple staff man the counter. 

According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_farming):

The majority of world's turtle farms are probably located in China. According to a study published in 2007, over a thousand turtle farms operated in China.  According to the responses obtained from 684 of those farms, these farms had the total herd of more than 300 million animals, and sold over 128 million turtles each year, with the total weight of about 93,000 tons. Extrapolating from this sample, the researchers estimated that about 300 million farm-raised turtles are sold annually by China's registered turtle farms, worth (presumably, at the wholesale prices) around US$750 million. They note that a large number of unregistered farms exist as well.