They Make Great Pets Pests?

Japanese pet-owners are apparently having a hard time adjusting to the country's new Invasive Alien Species Law, set to go into effect this June. According to this report from Daily Yomiuri, owners of snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) are frantically searching for places to bring their turtles once owning them without a permit becomes illegal. Pet snapping turtles? Yikes. There's a reason for that common name. Hopefully this new law will not backfire by leading to massive releases of non-native turtles into the wild.