A Transportation Security Administration officer found a live turtle concealed in the crotch of a would-be traveler’s pants at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport. Photo courtesy of the TSA
March 13 (UPI) — The Transportation Security Administration said an officer at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey found a live turtle concealed in the crotch of a traveler’s pants.
The TSA said the East Stroudsburg, Pa., man was going through the security checkpoint’s body scanner when it detected something concealed in his groin area.
An officer confronted the man, who “reached down the front of his pants and pulled out a live turtle that was wrapped in a small blue towel,” the TSA said.
The approximately 5-inch-long turtle was identified by the man as a red-ear slider turtle.
Port Authority Police took possession of the turtle and contacted local animal control and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The man was not allowed to board his flight and was escorted away by Port Authority police.
“We have seen travelers try to conceal knives and other weapons on their person, in their shoes and in their luggage, however I believe this is the first time we have come across someone who was concealing a live animal down the front of his pants,” Thomas Carter, the TSA’s federal security director for New Jersey, said in the news release. “As best as we could tell, the turtle was not harmed by the man’s actions.”
The TSA did not reveal where the man had intended to fly and it was unclear why he had stashed the turtle in his pants.
