Picture of Hawaii teens harassing endangered turtle posted on /r/rage. Turns out one of them was a Redditor and tries to defend his friends' actions (np.reddit.com)
SubredditDrama
269 ups - 0 downs = 269 votes
201 comments submitted at 07:50:26 on Jul 1, 2014 by spyhi
Holy shit.
>I have and will dance with the turtles.
That's a felony. He just admitted to a felony and stated he intends to do it again.
Its a serious enough crime in Hawaii, Ive seen fishermen reel in their lines and leave when they spot some turtles offshore just so they dont risk a situation of any kind.
edit: Not just a felonly, but a $10,000+ fine for harassing one.
http://www.gc.noaa.gov/schedules/6-ESA/EnadangeredSpeciesAct.pdf
Jesus. That seems like a lot for a turtle.
there are many fewer turtles than dumb tourists trying to bring home a picture of a turtle
Lawyer here. It is high, but it's important to remember that our system is not a system of full blown jury trials, but is instead a system of guilty pleas. This helps keep the courts free so they can focus on close or novel cases, and helps defendants by reducing the amount of time and fines they might have otherwise served and paid.
Here he may be charged with dancing with an endangered turtle, but he'll likely plea down to misdemeanor jigging.
"You have been charged with Turtledancing, young man. How do you plea?"
"Guilty, your honor. If dancing with turtles is wrong, then I don't want to be right."
"That'll be $50,000. Case dismissed. Bring in the dancing lobsters!"
I love you.
I thought those signs were just there to scare tourists. Also I'd have to guess a life guard or a police officer would have to witness it happening. Now tackling one on the beach would stress it out hard core, but in the water it's fine this shitsvit natural habitat. If it wanted to get out of there. It could easily they are very quick swimmers.
People doing shit like this could harm an endangered animal in any number of ways. It's illegal for a reason.
I almost want to report it but what idk if he's being serious.
I did report it. Let the authorities figure it out. If nothing else, he'll learn not to make those jokes through the wasted time.
Did you report it via the report button? Because that's not the authorities.
But, but...I thought reddit was the police. Who will I fuck now, my life is meaningless
Don't worry, we'll organize a friendly Reddit mob to find the perpetrators and issue justice.
Ah, the ol' reddit flaccid sword of justice.
[Insert cheap joke about NSA here]
No, I sent it to people I know who can actually do something about it. I wasn't going to originally, but he started being belligerent so I figured he needed talking to (I doubt he will actually get fined). Maybe he's a troll, but someone else can figure that out now.
And this was one of a set of photos from that day posted by Civil Beat (a local news paper). In the others, the turtle is clearly being grabbed.
The original point wasn't to witch hunt one person but, rather, to help raise awareness that touching sea turtles is illegal and harmful to them. But people like this kid set back recovery efforts, if not through their direct actions, then by making it a thing and opening the doors for lots of people to do it, and do it wrong.
Search "honu" and "gopro" together on Instagram and you'll see what I mean.
It's going to be hilarious when they get around to tracking down his location and TESTING turns out to be some bored 20-something in Oklahoma instead of a teenager in Hawaii.
>No, I sent it to people I know who can actually do something about it. I wasn't going to originally, but he started being belligerent so I figured he needed talking to (I doubt he will actually get fined). Maybe he's a troll, but someone else can figure that out now.
whoosh
You do realize that nobody in Hawaii would call this harrassment, right? These turtles are often found swimming in water that crowds frequent, and it would take more than a couple of people swimming around them before anybody would stop them.
That's not what was going on in the linked picture.
I don't think you can accurately say that.
To me it looks as though the picture is being directed away from the beach rather than toward. Thus, it is very possible that there are a large number of people very close to this turtle. It is very possible that the turtle was swimming through a crowd right before this, or was heading into populated waters.
I can also see evidence of at least 5 people in this picture. 3 close to the turtle, one foot/leg in the background, and the photographer. It is very possible that there are many more people very close to this turtle.
The objections above is to people touching the turtles, not merely swimming in proximity.
Gotcha; I misunderstood. However, wouldn't people be touching them if they are swimming in close proximity to people?
Intentionally touching the turtles is the problem, not bumping into them.
Someone around here said it's like strip club rules. Look, don't touch. If they rub up against you, fine. You can't reach out with your hands to mess with them.
A photo from the guys instagram was posted. He is indeed picking up turtles to take selfies with them
Do you live in Hawaii? Cause I used to and me and my friends have been touching these turtles since we were kids and pretty much everyone else has too... you can touch them all you want and your chance of getting booked for it is .00001%... unless you take a hammer and publiclly crush one, no one is doing jack to you.
These kids are being harmless.
I hope you don't do it anymore.
I'm unsure how your post relates to mine in any way, but thanks for the info.
People probably touch those turtles all the time, and even if it is reported, I'm skeptical that anything would come of it. If the local authorities were that concerned with it, they'd probably be aiming to keep people off of the beaches where the turtles live.
No... no they really won't. If anything they'll laugh so hard their sides will split because someone thought they were serious and got angry when they said they touched a turtle.
better safe than sorry
Honu :'(
he says that he has diplomatic immunity, will that save him?
He admits further down that he was just fucking with people when he said that and that he doesn't believe diplomatic immunity would protect him anyway
Oh boy, he sure did get us. For a second there, I really did think he was someone important, oh man what a joker.
His dad is probably a police guy. He doesn't have diplomatic immunity. He's an idiot.
That's just pathetic. I hope the authorities are just laughing at you.
I reported you for being a whiny tree hugging snitch.
I do the same when the kids in /r/gaming brag about software piracy. I literally have a desk drawer full of SPA keychains and memory sticks after six months of this.
Edit: what double standards we have. Help get one law enforced, much praise and a healthy circle jerk. Do the same with another, get your karma mercilessly stomped into the ground.
Lmao the double standards of these neckbeards
Pirate all the media you want and you're a damn freedom fighter but don't you dare touch a fucking turtle
Because pirates are all tree-huggers. Totally. You absolutely aren't basing your comment on zero evidence.
I'm not and if you think I am you haven't read the whole comment section
I just double-checked the linked thread. No mentions of piracy at all.
wrong thread genius
I don't see anyone in this thread being pro-piracy and anti-turtle-touching either.
How do you go about doing that?
I have literally thousands of pounds worth of pirated software on this machine
What now?
Hang tight.
I should mention I don't live in the US and the jurisdiction I'm in isn't required to criminalize copyright theft
please no mad
That....seems kinda harsh.
They just give the kids a warning, right?
no, in the odd case that an entertainment conglomerate directly targets a pirate, a lawsuit is usually being incurred. lots and lots of money.
....that seems unnecessarily harsh for a dumb 14 year old kid bragging about how he's so edgy.
because /u/ispankfat_chicks is also edgy, and doesn't like it when 14 year olds take his spotlight.
Wow you're really brave calling the cops on a dangerous turtle toucher
^ misses the point
I know what the point was
He gets to feel warm fuzzy and proud for causing trouble for strangers on the internet over a comment he can't verify
That really is noble, looking at that picture, and the anguished face of that poor turtle, honestly I'm having trouble resisting sending /u/spyhi some reddit gold for his wisdom bringing the hammer of justice down on a couple guys who may or may not have touched a turtle
Seriously...Where does he think this is going to go? And why is this the crime that everyone wants to take time out of their day to get incensed over? Unverified turtle touching? Newsflash: those Nigerian girls still haven't been brought back, a violent crime occurs in the US every 25 seconds and there's a civil war busting out in Iraq...and people want to raise an internet mob for...turtle touching?
How dare this persons life take them into close contact with the beauty of nature, better send some angry emails!
It's because of people like this that there isn't very much beauty left in nature
Certainly not the commercial sized pillaging of ecosystems across the span of biomes en masse since the industrial revolution
It's the people who see an animal in the wild and lightly touch it
Never realized pat erosion was such a huge issue
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Next time you get pulled over, quote your little speech to the cop and see if it gets you out of a ticket.
Except I'm not breaking the law by thinking you all are ridiculous to get this upset over a turtle toucher. And note, this guy isn't a cop and we're not talking about tickets, we're talking about unverifiable turtle-touching. If you think the cops give a shit, stay posted and see if this ridiculousness ever goes anywhere. Neither the turtle nor law enforcement give a fuck. This dude is the equivalent of an old person calling the police department every time a child walks across their lawn.
You know what, you're right, as long as there are bigger problems you're free to do whatever you want! BRB, gonna rob a store then kill some people. seeya.
Way to reading comprehension. Have fun in jail, criminal.
Oh for fuck's sake, get over yourself.
Dances With Turtles: the long-awaited sequel to Dances With Wolves.
...Dancing with turtles is a felony?
He can dance if he wants to, but he'll leave his friends behind.
Cause his friends don't dance and if they don't dance well they won't get a fine.
Bravo.
comment of the year.
Sorry, but it just sounds absolutely fucking insane to call playing with turtles a felony, even if it is the law or even if it is actually bad.