Every year, New York stores sell thousands of red-eared slider turtles as pets, and every sale sets off a chain of suffering. The retail sale of red-eared slider turtles fuels cruelty in turtle mills, ecological devastation in our waterways, and the mass killing of wild animals through culling programs.
New York State has the power to end this cycle. We urge lawmakers to pass Senate Bill S.6621 and Assembly Bill A.1685. Both bills would ban the breeding, sale, trade, purchase, importation, and exportation of red-eared slider turtles in our state.
Here’s why this matters — and what you can do right now.
What Are Red-Eared Slider Turtles and Why Is New York Still Selling Them?
The red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) gets their name from the distinctive red stripe behind each eye. These turtles are native only to the south-central United States and parts of northern Mexico. For decades, the industry has mass-bred them for the global pet trade. Today, New York remains a significant participant in that marketplace, with severe consequences for animals and ecosystems alike.
The red-eared slider ranks among the world’s 100 most invasive species, per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). These turtles live up to 40 years in captivity and grow far larger than most buyers expect. They also require complex, expensive care. That gap between expectation and reality is precisely where the suffering begins and where the retail sale of red-eared slider pets causes lasting harm.
Turtle Mills: The Cruelty Behind Every Pet Store Sale
Most people who pick up a red-eared slider at a pet store have no idea where that animal came from. The answer is rarely reassuring.
How Turtle Farms Operate
Turtle farming for the pet trade is a large-scale commercial industry. It concentrates primarily in Louisiana where farmers collect broodstock directly from the wild, then pack them into outdoor ponds at densities of 7,500 to 15,000 animals per water-acre. These animals are not considered individuals. They are simply seen as commodities — bred by the millions, crowded and stressed, then shipped across the country and around the world.
Conditions throughout the supply chain are frequently brutal. Overcrowding and dirty water go hand in hand in commercial turtle production, and animals in these conditions suffer from bacterial respiratory infections, shell rot, parasitic infections, and fungal diseases. Capture, captivity, and long-distance transport take a severe physical toll. In healthy conditions, these are quiet, long-lived, sensitive animals. In turtle mills, they are inventory.
The industry’s history makes its priorities clear. In the late 1960s, Louisiana alone produced 15 million baby red-eared sliders annually. When domestic sales faced salmonella restrictions, turtle farmers pivoted to international export markets. Those markets now account for 5 to 10 million animals annually. The animals’ well-being was never part of the calculation.
The Global Cruelty Chain
The trade doesn’t stop at farms. Overseas, the cruelty intensifies. In some markets, sellers seal live turtles in plastic pouches and sell them as novelty keychains. The turtles starve, suffocate, and die. The near-total absence of reptile welfare protections globally means this suffering remains invisible and unregulated.
That $10 turtle in the pet store window is the final stop on a production chain built on mass suffering. Large-scale turtle farmers are not invested in welfare — they are invested in volume. Moreover, the suffering doesn’t end at purchase. Red-eared sliders live for decades and grow much larger than expected. Many owners eventually can’t care for them and the predictable result is abandonment into local waterways — and that’s where the crisis shifts from animal welfare into ecological catastrophe.
Released Into the Wild: The Ecological Damage of the Red-Eared Slider Pet Trade
When owners release a red-eared slider into a New York pond, lake, or river, they often believe they are doing something kind. They are not.
Outcompeting Native Species
Red-eared sliders are larger, more aggressive, and more efficient than most native Northeast turtle species. They outcompete native turtles for food and critical basking spots. Basking is not optional for turtles — they depend on sun exposure for thermoregulation, immune function, and survival. In New York and across the region, sliders directly threaten species like the Eastern Painted Turtle, already under pressure from habitat loss and road mortality. A 2004 study found native turtles were healthier and larger in ponds without red-eared sliders than in ponds where the two species shared habitat.
Spreading Disease
The ecological damage compounds through disease. Pet turtles carry pathogens — including Salmonella, Mycoplasma, adenoviruses, ranavirus, and the shell-destroying fungus Emydomyces testavorans. Native turtle populations have little or no immunity to these diseases. A single released slider can infect an entire wild population. Red-eared sliders often show no visible signs of illness, so owners have no way of knowing they’re releasing a disease vector. In Illinois, researchers found invasive red-eared sliders carrying multiple pathogens that threaten the endangered Blanding’s turtle — a species they also directly outcompete.
Overwhelming Ecosystems
High fertility rates make the problem worse. Most native turtle species are in steep global decline. Red-eared sliders, by contrast, adapt and reproduce rapidly in nearly every environment. They reach sexual maturity faster than native species and outcompete them at every life stage. Between 1989 and 1997, the U.S. exported more than 50 million red-eared sliders. Today, an estimated 3 to 4 million hatchlings ship overseas every year. These animals are now established on every continent except Antarctica.
New York’s Own Turtle Pond
The evidence is right here in New York City. Central Park’s Turtle Pond is overrun with abandoned sliders. Each winter, turtles there die from starvation and exposure, and every spring, new releases replenish the population. The cycle continues because the retail sale of red-eared slider pets continues. That pond is a preview of what unchecked invasion looks like.
The Cruelty of Culling: Killing Animals the Pet Trade Created
When invasive red-eared slider populations establish themselves in the wild, wildlife managers face an impossible situation. Removal — culling — becomes the tool of last resort.
What Culling Actually Means
Culling means trapping, euthanizing, and disposing of animals. Their only offense was being released by the humans who bought them. Culling programs are expensive, labor-intensive, and only temporarily effective. Field experiments show that removing most of an introduced red-eared slider population improves native turtle body condition — but those gains disappear when new releases resume. As long as the retail sale of red-eared slider turtles continues, new releases replenish wild populations. Entire communities of red-eared sliders — animals capable of living for decades — face destruction. Not because of anything they did, but because the industry that created them faces no accountability.
A Cycle with No End — Unless We Stop the Sale
This is the brutal logic of the status quo: New York allows the mass sale of red-eared sliders, looks away while owners abandon them, then kills the animals to manage the fallout. The cruelty runs in every direction. The only humane solution is to stop the pipeline at its source by ending the retail sale of red-eared slider turtles entirely.
New York State Legislation: S.6621 and A.1685
New York State has the opportunity to break this cycle. Senate Bill S.6621, sponsored by Senator Pete Harckham, and Assembly Bill A.1685, sponsored by Assembly Member Linda B. Rosenthal, would prohibit the breeding, sale, trade, purchase, importation, and exportation of red-eared slider turtles in New York. Both bills include sensible exemptions for zoos, aquariums, sanctuaries, and wildlife rehabilitators.
Importantly, this legislation does not criminalize current pet owners. People who already care for a red-eared slider can continue to do so. What these bills would end is the commercial front end of the crisis and would stop the trade that produces red-eared slider pets for impulse purchase, fuels ecological invasion, and creates the conditions for mass abandonment and suffering.
Both bills will need to be re-introduced in 2027’s Legislative session.
We Need a Federal Solution Too
New York can lead, but the red-eared slider crisis is national in scope. Turtle farms continue producing millions of animals for domestic sale and export. A patchwork of state regulations fails to address the systemic problem. Research shows that when some states tighten restrictions, the trade shifts to neighboring states with looser laws — moving volume rather than reducing it.
A federal ban on the retail sale of red-eared slider turtles would close those loopholes. It would end the suffering at the source and protect ecosystems across the entire country.
Take Action Now
The red-eared slider crisis is solvable, but only if we stop the sale. Every action you take today moves us closer to ending this cycle of suffering, abandonment, and ecological destruction.
🐢 Sign the Petition — Everyone
Demand a federal ban on the retail sale of red-eared slider turtles. Tell lawmakers that animal welfare and ecological protection require an end to this trade nationwide.
📧 New York Residents: Email Your Legislators
Support S.6621 and A.1685 today. Email your New York State Senator and Assembly Member urging them to pass these bills. Every message matters — especially from constituents in their districts.
👉 Email your NYS legislators →
The Bottom Line
The red-eared slider isn’t a villain. They’re wild animals turned into a product, bred by the millions, shipped around the world, purchased on impulse, and abandoned when inconvenient. The cruelty embedded in the retail sale of red-eared slider turtles — from the farm to the pet store to the pond to the culling trap — is a policy failure, and policy failures can be fixed.
New York can end its role in this crisis. We call on lawmakers to pass S.6621 and A.1685, and we call on voters to make sure they hear us.