Kentucky couple fined for taking baby sea turtles

TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WTVQ) – A Kentucky couple who admitted to taking six baby sea turtles and sticking them in a trash can in their hotel last July has been hit with a fine.

According to police, 24-year-old Danielle Tosh and 42-year-old Michael House admitted they were drinking when they saw baby loggerhead turtles heading toward the ocean, scooped them up in a cup and took them back to their room.

They placed the turtles in a water-filled trash can.

The turtles were discovered by a housekeeper, who called police.

Tosh and House were charged for “taking a threatened species,” which is a federal crime under the Endangered Species Act.

They faced fines of up to $25,000 per violation.

The Island Packet newspaper reports they have been fined $930 each.

A wildlife agent who investigated the incident tells the newspaper the couple didn’t “show any intention of harming or selling the loggerhead hatchlings” and were “fined for the incident as a whole, not per turtle.”

Five of the sea turtles were placed back into the ocean and one of the turtles, later named Admiral, was sent to the Tybee Island Marine Science Center, according to the newspaper.