Updated on
Summary Welcome to Snapperfest, an event held for over a decade in Ohio County, Indiana.
How about a festival where each competitor allegedly yanks a snapping turtle’s head until the animals neck can be wrapped around the contestants fist?The annual festival is set to take place on Saturday, August 20th at Campshore Campgrounds, afterPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) unsuccessfully tried to stop the event.The frightened animals are grabbed by their tails and repeatedly slammed to the ground. Their heads are yanked from their shells, and they are then swung around until contestants are able to wrap their fists around the animals necks, according to PETA.Cheering on the turtle-wranglers has grown in popularity, and the organizers insist it is good, clean fun, according to Eagle Country radio.A Campshore Campground co-owner told the station, We do not kill the turtles. They are caught by hand. You cant pull the head off a turtle. He went so far as to invite PETA to the event to observe and see were not doing anything wrong.However, according to Examiner.com, many of the turtles are killed. Most suffer fatal injuries or die from stress, and since turtles are cold-blooded animals, they lanquish and suffer excruciating pain for a long time until death relieves them of their pain, Cheryl Hanna writes.
