Video Shows Man Throwing Snapping Turtles at Portland, Maine’s Evergreen Cemetery

A man was captured on video by a bystander picking up two snapping turtles and throwing them to the ground. A video of the incident was posted to Reddit, and it is quite disturbing.

Evergreen Cemetery on Stevens Avenue in Portland is on 239 acres of land, making it the second-largest publicly-owned open space in Portland. Various types of wildlife have been seen there, including geese, ducks, pheasants, swans, blue heron, fox, mink, deer, and even moose. Snapping turtles are also found near the duck pond at the rear of the cemetery, either swimming in the water or relaxing on the shore.

On June 22, a video was posted on Reddit showing a man picking up snapping turtles and throwing them to the ground. The person who shot the video described what he saw:

The man gets up and is standing mid-shin high in the pond. He squats down and pulls what looks to be a giant rock from under the water. He hoists it over his head like donkey Kong and throws it down to the granite stone below; it rickshaws off, bouncing to the land. It had made the noise I had heard before. I then realized it wasn't a rock but one of the turtles. Its body is redacting into its shell, trying to protect itself. The man squats again, pulls out another turtle, and smashes it onto the granite slab. Its body was dazed and confused, tumbling on land. At this point, my dog and I are like wtf. He then picks one of the turtles up and smashes one on top of the other. At this point, I pull my phone out and record it. He then throws one on the other. And then he grabs one of them and heads to his vehicle, taking the turtle.

The Redditor managed to get the person's license plate number, and the Portland Police Department and Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife are investigating.

I've chosen not to post the video here, because it can be disturbing for some, but you can view it on Reddit if you wish.

This is flat-out animal cruelty, and we all hope that the turtles will recover from this incident. Let's hope the person responsible is found and held accountable for his actions.