State hopes pet turtles are sliding into history

I'd previously posted here about the passage of legislation banning the sale of red eared slider turtles. The Sun-Sentinel published an article today on the hope that the new legislation will end any further contamination of native turtle species. People would purchase the red eared slider turtles and end up releasing them into the wild. The article begins with this quote from an astute 9th grader:

The ban makes sense to Jonah Bader, 14, a Parkland ninth-grader who has owned one of the turtles for four years.

"They don't really make good pets," said Bader, who aspires to a career in herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles. "But red-eared sliders were the cheapest turtles you could buy as a baby, about $10. But when they get bigger, people release them into the wild."