State to Consider Regulations to Protect Snapping Turtle

Connecticut environmental officials are proposing regulations to protect the state's population of snapping turtles.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection wants to limit the trapping of the turtles to a season that would run from July 15 to Sept. 30. 

The snapping turtle is the largest freshwater turtle in Connecticut and trappers would be allowed to take 30 snappers per season and five in a single day.

The proposed regulations also would prohibit the taking of snapping turtle eggs and the disturbance of turtle nests.

Jenny Dickson, a senior wildlife biologist with DEEP, told the Republican-American newspaper that a demand for turtle meat and eggs in other parts of the world has led to an increase in trapping and a need for regulations.