The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrested a Palm Beach County man on Friday night after they say he stole sea turtle eggs.
Glenn Robert Shaw, 49, was charged with a third-degree felony for the taking and possession of loggerhead sea turtle eggs, FWC said.
Five days before Shaw's arrest, FWC biologists told FWC law enforcement about a person possibly poaching sea turtle eggs from behind a home on Jupiter Island.
FWC officers then found Shaw taking eggs from a female loggerhead sea turtle as she was laying the eggs and was found to have 107 eggs.
FWC biologists reburied 92 of the eggs and 15 of the eggs were kept as evidence and DNA testing, FWC said. According to the FWC, the loggerhead sea turtle is protected as a threatened species by the Federal Endangered Species Act.
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“We’d like to thank FWC biologists for keeping a close eye out and the US Fish and Wildlife Service for their assistance with this case. Protecting Florida’s natural resources is something we take seriously, and we’re thankful that this individual was prevented from doing further harm to this imperiled species,” FWC Captain Jeff Ardelean.
Shaw faces a $5,000 fine and up to 5 years in prison.
Sea turtle nesting season starts March 1 and runs through October 31, beginning in southeast Florida from Brevard to Broward counties and starting in mid-April on northeast Florida beaches, FWC said. All species of sea turtle are protected by state and federal law and it is illegal to harm or harass a sea turtle or get to close to their eggs or hatchlings.
Cox Media Group
