Turtle Derbies: A Race Our Turtles (and Children) Can't Win

Every summer in small towns across America, children search woods and waters for turtles to compete in annual turtle races, longstanding traditions that often raise money for important causes.

But our nation's turtles are now dying off at alarming rates never-before seen, and it's time to end this tradition, which threatens to spread deadly diseases to both wild turtles and children.

After the races are over, most people release their turtles into the wild, undoubtedly thinking that no harm has been done. But races can expose turtles to disease, which then can spread to wild populations when turtles are released.

Threats like overexploitation and habitat loss have caused dramatic population declines in almost all U.S. turtle species, with many now either protected as endangered under the Endangered Species Act or under consideration for such protection. A new and emerging threat is a deadly wildlife disease called ranavirus that has caused turtle, frog and salamander die-offs in more than 25 states.

Continued

Rounding Up the Rattlers-Georgia Hamlet's Rattlesnake Festival Faces Prospect of Becoming Endangered Event – via Herp Digest

By Cameron McWhirter 

WHIGHAM, Ga 1/27/ Wall Street Journal.—On Saturday, this hamlet in the pine woods and cotton fields of southwest Georgia hosted its 53rd annual "rattlesnake roundup," a festival that drew thousands of visitors to gawk at some of the largest and most venomous rattlers in the world.

A small group of hunters competed for prizes awarded for the largest Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake captured—the rattler featured at the festival—and for the most rattlesnakes captured. Most of the snakes will be sold, killed and their skins turned into boots, belts and wallets.

Such contests were once common in parts of the rural South. But today, they're snakebit. Whigham's roundup is one of only two still held in the Southeast U.S. where the snakes are killed afterward. In the Western U.S., only 15 roundups of the Western Diamondback—a smaller, less venomous snake—remain.

The events are sparking a debate between those who embrace the tradition and those who want it to end.

The Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson, Ariz.-based environmental nonprofit group that opposes the events, has applied for federal protection for the rattlesnake, which would likely prohibit roundups.

In the center's view, the Eastern Diamondback is an endangered species and is vital to the ecosystem, according to Collette Adkins Giese, a center attorney heading the effort.

"This is the year 2013, you just can't be doing this anymore," Ms. Giese says. She said the roundups should be converted to "non-lethal" festivals, in which snakes are not killed.

"Most of the people are coming for the mini-doughnuts and the rides, not the snakes. You don't need to be killing the rattlesnakes at the end to have fun."

Harold Mitchell, an ecologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who is overseeing a review of the center's application for an official designation to "endangered" status, says it's too early to say what his recommendation will be.

Snake activists acknowledge that public response so far to their push moves to end the roundups has been less than enthusiastic in parts of the South.

"The bottom line is people hate snakes and they could care less what happens to them," says Jim Ries, a suburban Atlanta dad and unemployed fitness trainer whose two children are gathering signatures to end the Whigham roundup.

Roundup supporters say the events don't hurt overall snake populations and say Eastern Diamondbacks are thriving in large sections of the Southeast U.S. It's the roundups that face extinction, they argue, because younger hunters aren't taking up the dangerous practice of capturing rattlesnakes.

"Roundups are on the way out," says Ken Darnell, an Alabama businessman who collects venom to sell to pharmaceutical companies and is a supporter of the Whigham roundup. Videogames are a lot more appealing to young men than trudging through brambles to catch venomous snakes, he says.

Attendance at the Whigham roundup has dropped from as many as 40,000 people decades ago to around 15,000 in recent years, according to Barry Strickland, a member of the Whigham Community Club that sponsors the roundup. The number of snakes captured has dropped from an all-time high of 610 in 1995 to a record low of 37 last year, according to roundup records.

John Lodge, a rattlesnake hunter and community club secretary, said this year's roundup brought in 56 snakes, but he said crowds were down and not enough hunting groups participated to give out a fifth-place prize for the most snakes.

Last year, Claxton, Ga., near Savannah, ended its roundup and switched to a wildlife festival, in part from pressure from environmentalists.

"There were only four or five guys in our club who still hunted snakes anymore," says Bruce Purcell, president of the group that organizes that festival. "It had kind of fizzled out."

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, charged with identifying and protecting endangered species in the state, says the rattlesnake population in the Southeast has declined, but it also isn't convinced the snake is endangered. Fewer Eastern Diamondbacks are seen these days in some parts of the state but "that doesn't mean they are declining to the point of needing federal listing," says John Jensen, a biologist and snake expert with the state agency.

Rattlesnake hunting requires walking for hours in woods to spy holes where rattlesnakes nest. Hunters stick hoses down the holes, hoping to poke a snake and hear it rattle, or "sing," as hunters call it. They then try to dig the snakes out or might return on a warmer day when snakes could be lying out in the sun.

In Whigham, people say rattlesnakes aren't scarce. They see them slithering across roads and in backyards. When farmers bring in their crops, snakes spill out of the harvesting machines.

"You can't live around here and not see a rattlesnake," says Alice Bond, whose late father-in-law, George Bond, still holds the record for largest rattlesnake ever caught in the roundup: 15 pounds, two ounces in 1976.

Levaughn Bond, 66 years old, Alice's husband, says he's too old to hunt rattlesnakes anymore. On a recent weekday at the office of his septic-tank business, Mr. Bond got out his father's old hunting equipment: aluminum shin guards to block strikes from a coiled snake and a PVC pipe with a steel loop to grab snakes by the neck.

"You have to hunt like the devil to catch snakes," says Mr. Bond, who carries a revolver in his waistband to kill any rattlesnakes that he encounters.

Locals say the town needs the event. From 2000 to 2010, the population dropped from 631 to 471. Storefronts sit empty.

"We have nothing in this town, just one red light and a few shops," says Fay Young, who owns an antiques store on Broad Avenue, Whigham's main thoroughfare.

"The roundup brings in some people and we get some recognition," she says.

The Whigham Rattlesnake Roundup: An Eye-Witness Account – via Herp Digest

January 31, 2013, Written by Justyne Lobello, Georgia Reptile Society

The Whigham Rattlesnake Roundup was, on the whole, a lot better than I expected. I expected to see Sweetwater. I expected blood and horror. I expected wholesale slaughter on a grand scale while children watched and were convinced to participate.

I saw none of that. What I saw was repugnant, make no mistake, but it seemed to be more a result of gross misunderstanding or at worst willful ignorance. Nobody at the roundup seemed bent on seeing the snakes killed, and many seemed appreciative of their natural beauty, if perhaps a bit unaware of the gravity of their situation. I believe this event still carries on with its more distasteful traditions because they are just that: tradition. Yet, there was a palpable level of defensiveness about the festival – as if the officials knew they were doing something that others disapprove of and were just waiting the chance to be “persecuted” for it.

When I arrived at the roundup, the first thing I noticed was the sheer number of people. There were hundreds if not thousands from all over South Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. People of every age, race, and walk of life it seemed. A hugely diverse crowd that was gathering for gathering’s sake. I mean, why not? There were food booths, bouncy castles, rock walls, musicians, and various local artisans and crafters selling one-of-a-kind handmade goods. The one thing that was really difficult to find, in fact, were the rattlesnakes themselves. There was only one booth selling leather goods made from snakeskin and no booths selling snake meat. The only exotic meat I saw was alligator tail, and the biggest alligator farm in the country is only 35 minutes away in the town of Camilla1. I found the rattlesnakes eventually. And while they weren’t held in a giant pit Indiana Jones-style, they were being kept inhumanely.

Whigham’s Rattlesnake Roundup hosts a hunting contest, offering cash prizes to the men who capture the most snakes over the course of a year. On the day of the Roundup, these men take the snakes they’ve caught and place them in large wood and Plexiglas containers (about 3 feet by 5 feet), dividing them according to size and species. Most of the containers with near or full-grown snakes only held about ten to fifteen, but some held as many as twenty or thirty. Now, according to the people I spoke to, the snakes are fed every two weeks and are treated more like pets than trophies. This might be true for some, but a lot of the snakes I saw looked underfed and they all looked incredibly stressed and frightened. If you look at the Canebrake cage, they’re all writhing in a pile; desperately struggling to hide underneath one another. If you look in the adult Diamondback cage, they’re hissing and striking and biting one another. As much as it pains me to admit, I’d rather see this than the events at Sweetwater, Texas. However, that doesn’t change the fact that animals who have done no harm and whose population is dwindling are being hunted for entertainment.

But was it entertaining? The people who seemed most entertained were the ones able to enter the corral where the enclosures were kept and given a chance to look at the snakes up close. They were asking questions and learning; children remarked about how pretty the snakes were to the indulgent smiles of mothers. Everyone else on the outside looked kind of bored, like they were waiting for something to happen.

An interesting fact to keep in mind is that Georgia has no regulation on the hunting of venomous snakes. The Department of Natural resources only mentions them in its last paragraph of hunting regulations: It is unlawful to take nongame wildlife except fiddler crabs, coyotes, armadillos, groundhogs, beavers, starlings, English sparrows, pigeons, and venomous snakes2. Most of the species mentioned here are considered invasive species or pests. There are no limits, no regulations, and no legal protection over the hunting of rattlesnakes in the state of Georgia. There is no time in which you cannot hunt them. There are no conditions dictating what kind of weapon, means, or tactics you use. No rules against taking gravid females or the one breeding male from an area. According to an official at the roundup, the only time rattlesnake hunters are asked not to hunt is during active days of deer season. While the IUCN Red List still lists the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake as Least Concern, its population has been trending downward at a rate of about 10% over three generations. It mentions that roundups like these account for about 2,000 rattlesnake deaths each year3.

About midway through the festival, one of the officials took up a microphone and began assuring the crowd that, despite the low numbers of snakes present at this year’s roundup, the population in the area was still thriving. He attributed the low numbers to a low turnout of hunters and atypically warm weather leading to a longer active deer season. Yet one website made for the roundup in 2002 mentioned a noticeable decline in both the snake population and the size of the snakes found (though whether this was in an official capacity is hard to deduce.) It colored this observation by mentioning that the number of snake bites had gone down in recent years as well4. The official at the roundup continued to say that this festival was important to the financial wellbeing of the county, and that people who didn’t live in Georgia were trying to shut down an honest and legal attempt at raising funds through the hunting of a dangerous animal.

So how do you hunt rattlesnakes? Well, a common way is to pour gasoline down its burrow, light it on fire, and smoke it out. But the problem is that rattlesnakes don’t burrow. They live in the holes already dug by other animals, mostly Gopher tortoises and small mammals. It’s exceedingly difficult to tell whether or not a rattlesnake actually lives in the hole until you light it on fire, and many Gopher tortoises have died as a result of this. The fumes and ash make it difficult for this burrow to be used by any other animal in need of shelter. This practice is illegal, but difficult to enforce. It’s just another one of the egregious environmental costs these rattlesnake roundups impose5.

According to the official, most of the snakes would be donated to universities for research purposes after the roundup. Some of the snakes would be killed for meat and skin (though he used the euphemism “processed”), and a select few would be given away to residents of rural areas and farms who want added pest control. It was never discussed which universities would be receiving the snakes or whether the snakes would survive their research, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. These snakes have been removed from their natural habitat and the population has taken a substantial blow. A blow which sustains itself every year this roundup continues.

I understand their motives. South Georgia and North Florida are both plagued with staggering poverty. Every attempt to bring wealth to the area is fiercely protected. But I believe they’re mistaken on one fundamental point: they don’t need to hunt rattlesnakes in order to have this festival. The Claxton Rattlesnake Roundup recently changed their name to the Claxton Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources even donated a large collection of native reptiles to the Claxton community in exchange for their discontinuing the rattlesnake hunt. What’s more is that their attendance increased after this change. More people came to learn and appreciate nature than to revel in fear and cruelty6.

This place obviously isn’t Sweetwater, so treating them like Sweetwater probably won’t work. They’ve ignored every petition, phone call, protest, and online request. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has offered Whigham the same thing they offered Claxton: a menagerie of native reptiles in exchange for a promise to stop persecuting rattlesnakes. Whigham refused. The Georgia Reptile Society stands in opposition of this event, but we do see an inkling of hope in the attitudes of the festival-goers here and in Claxton. We’re going to visit Whigham personally to offer the same thing the DNR offered. We will come down ourselves and host our own reptile exhibition on the day of the Roundup in exchange for the lives of Georgia’s wildlife. We will bring our own pets, our own expertise, and our own sweat and give the city of Whigham and its residents an exhibition of native and exotic reptiles they won’t soon forget.

So how can you help? If you live in the state of Georgia, you can join the Georgia Reptile Society. Your membership fees not only make our meetings fun and exciting, but also go directly towards projects like this. If you don’t want to join or if you live outside of Georgia, you can give directly on our website through a secure PayPal donation. Whigham is quite isolated and getting there involves several hours of driving from even the closest of large cities. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated and would serve to aid these animals that are suffering from deadly ignorance and fatal persecution.

www.gareptilesociety.org

Notes

1. http://www.voanews.com/content/alligator-farm-grows-out-prized-skins-for-purses/1508127.html

2. http://www.eregulations.com/georgia/hunting/general-hunting-information/

3. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/64308/0

4. http://www.caironet.com/RATTLE.HTM

5. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/64308/0 - Under “Major Threats” - Another direct threat is the collecting of rattlesnakes for the skin trade and for competition for prizes in rattlesnake roundups held annually in Alabama (1) and Georgia (3). While probably not a serious threat in itself, when coupled with habitat loss, this sort of collecting is additive. It utilizes the practice of gassing the burrows of the Gopher Tortoise in winter (illegal in Florida and Georgia), sometimes killing rattlesnakes outright, and usually impacting the other fauna inhabiting burrows (Speake and Mount 1973).

http://yubanet.com/usa/48-000-People-Call-on-Last-Remaining-Georgia-Rattlesnake-Roundup-to-Switch-to-Humane-Wildlife-Festival.php#.UQnA-mewWJ1 - All of Georgia's other roundups have abandoned the outdated practice of removing rare rattlers from the wild. Last year Claxton, Ga., replaced its roundup with the Claxton Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival, which displays captive rattlesnakes, along with many other educational wildlife exhibits. While attendance at the Whigham roundup dropped in past years, the new wildlife festival in Claxton received a boost in attendance and high praise from environmental groups, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, biologists and others who have lobbied for years to end rattlesnake roundups.

Original Article That Reported on the Problem with The Turtle Derby in Berlin, PA - via Herp Digest

July 3, 2012

New Berlin July 4 turtle derby in jeopardy

By Marcia Moore The Daily Item

NEW BERLIN — New Berlin’s 49th annual turtle derby is in jeopardy.

The organizers of Wednesday’s Fourth of July festivities were notified recently by a Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission officer that anyone who shows up at the race with one of six turtles on a “no take” list could be fined, New Berlin Activities Committee Treasurer Shirl Hummel said Monday.

As it turns out, the turtle species on the state’s protection list since 2007 because of declining numbers — wood, Eastern box, Eastern redbelly, bog, spotted and Eastern mud — are among the most popular in the area.

“This is very disappointing,” Hummel said. “Those are the main turtles that are brought to the derby. We have up to 30 kids participating, and they start looking for turtles by Memorial Day. We don’t want anyone to get in trouble for bringing the wrong kind.”

The Fish and Boat Commission provided conflicting descriptions of how the agency planned to respond. Hummel said she was told by one officer that citations with $250 fines could be levied to anyone who showed up with a protected turtle. An agency spokesman said that no Fish and Boat Commission staff would be at the race, but a third official said that staff would likely be there, but without any intention of citing little turtle-toting children.

As of late Monday afternoon, Hummel was still trying to work out with leaders of Boy Scout Troop 508, which runs the derby, whether to cancel the race.

“That would be so sad. It would be like having the Fourth of July without fireworks,” said Cindy Rokavec, the mother of two young boys who had to release protected turtles they caught for the race, which for five decades has been the main event at the holiday celebration.

Commission spokesman Eric Levis said the agency doesn’t want to put an end to a half-century tradition and is only trying to educate the community.

“We are not shutting down the derby,” Levis said, adding that there were no plans as of Monday to have an officer issue citations.

Turtle Derby, New Berlin, follow-up articles and letters to the Editor

Organizers: Turtles will run (well, race) today

By Marcia Moore The Daily Item, 7/4/12

NEW BERLIN, PA— New Berlin Turtle Derby organizers said the race will go on today despite warnings from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission that participants could be fined.

“We have nothing in writing stating we can’t do this, so we’re going through with it as planned,” said Shirl Hummel, treasurer of the New Berlin Activities Committee.

Registration for the 49th annual turtle derby will be held on the Commons beginning at 9 a.m., and the race will start at 1:30 p.m.

The traditional Fourth of July event that attracts up to 30 kids was nearly scuttled for the first time in decades after Hummel was contacted by a state Fish and Boat Commission officer warning that participants would be breaking the law if they showed up with any species of turtles that may not be removed from their natural habitat because of their declining numbers.

Hummel said she was told that a fine of $250 could be levied against anyone in possession of a protected, threatened or endangered turtle, including box, wood, spotted and Eastern redbelly species. Other turtle species, including Eastern and midland painted, map and Eastern musk, are not on the protected list.

Agency spokesman Eric Levis said no one from the state was scheduled to attend the event and no citations would be issued.

Later, Hummel said, organizers were informed that participants could legally attend the event with box and wood turtle species, but would be cited if they raced them.

Frustrated with the conflicting responses, Hummel and Kay Trick, committee chairwoman for Boy Scouts Troop 508, which sponsors the derby, met Tuesday and decided to hold the race anyway.

“We’ll allow people to race box and wood turtles unless someone is there to stop them,” Hummel said.

Trick, who has helped the troop coordinate the turtle derby since 1988, said it’s the first time the state has intervened.

“The Boy Scouts have done this forever. We want to do the right thing and be good stewards of the land, yet not one person has ever come to us officially,” she said, disputing reports that the state warned organizers last year that the law barred certain species of turtle from being plucked out of their habitat and used in the race. “We’re confused and don’t understand the law.”

None of the turtles have been harmed and the young participants return them to the wild when it’s over, she said.

And, once again, C. Tristan Stayton, an assistant professor in biology at Bucknell University, will be on hand to provide information about the turtles.

“It’s not like we’re making turtle soup,” Trick said. “We’re only educating the public.”

Turtle entries drop in New Berlin; organizers blame state agency

By Marcia Moore The Daily Item 7/5/12

NEW BERLIN — The number of turtles entered in Wednesday’s 49th annual Turtle Derby dropped by about 50 percent from last year, and one organizer blamed the decline on the state Fish and Boat Commission, which had warned that some participants could face $250 fines.

“I think some people were scared off,” said Kay Trick, committee chairwoman for Boy Scouts Troop 508, which sponsors the derby during New Berlin’s Fourth of July celebration. Last year, nearly 70 turtles were entered in the race, and this year, a total of 33 turtles were brought to the competition, which was held without any citations being issued.

Trick said many people probably opted not to participate after the state agency announced that several species of turtles are on a protected list because of their declining numbers in Pennsylvania, and anyone possessing one of those species could be fined. The protected species — wood, Eastern box, Eastern redbelly, bog, spotted and Eastern mud— are among the most common turtles in the area.

Trick and Shirl Hummel, treasurer of the New Berlin Activities Committee, decided to hold the derby anyway after receiving conflicting information from several representatives of the Fish and Boat Commission.

Glenn Keister II, of Mifflinburg, was pleased they didn’t back down so his son, Blaise, 5, could participate in the same holiday tradition he and his father enjoyed over the years.

“Blaise would have been devastated if he couldn’t race his turtle. It’s all he’s talked about since winning a trophy last year,” Keister said. “You’ve never seen anyone so proud of an award. He keeps it on his dresser.”

Mifflinburg resident Heather Reichenbach said she purchased a red-eared slider turtle so her son, Coby Sullivan, 7, could join the contest legally.

“I bet a lot of people didn’t come out because they were afraid they’d get fined,” she said.

Master of ceremonies Zane Patterson, a Boy Scout and 2008 derby winner, said he wasn’t worried. “It’s been a tradition for so long that I didn’t think it was going to go kaput over the brouhaha,” the 11-year-old said.

Trick said she has scheduled a meeting with state officials to work out a plan to ensure the turtle derby is allowed to continue without controversy.

“We’re going to do something special next year, for the 50th anniversary,” she said.

Moving forward-Letter to the Editor on Turtle Derby

Daily Item 7/7/12 

July 4th, for the 49th year, New Berlin held its turtle derby. The children came with their little buckets and boxes with their prize turtles inside.

Each one was sure their turtle would win. A good time was had by all.

We, the New Berlin Activities Committee and Boy Scout Troop 508, would like to thank all those who made it possible for our event to continue.

A special thanks to those of the Fish and Boat Commission who came to our aid to rectify the problem that we were confronted with. A special thanks, also, to State Rep. Fred Keller for supporting us.

We want to make it clear that we don't have any animosity toward the Fish and Boat Commission and we don't want anyone else to, either, because of our problem.

It is our intent to work with the Fish and Boat Commission in future years. Perhaps they could join us for our derbies and compile data from the turtles that are collected, like they do with the rattlesnake hunts.

We believe a good thing can come from all of this.

Shirl Hummel,

New Berlin

Missed opportunity Letter to the Editor on Turtle Derby

Daily Item, 7/7/12

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission provides a much-needed service and in my experience has the public's safety as a priority.

Unfortunately, most seem to associate the agency with its law enforcement activities. Go to any stocked trout stream on opening day and you get a taste of what officers deal with. Their published mission statement includes "to protect, conserve and enhance the commonwealth's aquatic resources."

A golden opportunity to achieve this mission through public awareness was squandered this week by a knee-jerk comment made by a representative of the commission to volunteer coordinators of the New Berlin Boy Scouts' 49th annual Turtle Derby.

It may be time to conduct a stop and think when a state agency is discouraging an event that has children going outside and interacting with nature by threatening them with a $250 fine.

Would it not be a better idea to use a 49-year-old tradition to enhance public awareness?

The children involved can tell you exactly where they found their turtles and plan to return it there.

I know, I can tell you where I found a box turtle in 1978. It didn't win; anybody that grew up in New Berlin can tell you that mud turtles are faster.

That plays to my point, growing up we knew the species' characteristics because of the turtle derby!

That said, I still wouldn't know a bog turtle if I tripped over one.

Most people I spoke with this week (most were responsible outdoorsmen) were unaware that the Blanding's turtle, eastern box turtle, spotted turtle, wood turtle, bog turtle and red belly turtle were endangered.

To be honest, I had to dig through the Fish and Boat Commission website to find the list.

Some coordination in the future could turn a lose-lose into a win-win.

The Fish and Boat Commission missed an opportunity to conduct a census of turtles found in southern Union County. They missed an opportunity to increase public relations and awareness.

They missed an opportunity to advise participants ahead of time to avoid the endangered species.

Small-town activities and respect for law enforcement are at a premium these days. Let's enhance both at the 50th annual New Berlin Turtle Derby.

Brian Smith,

Ready, steady, slow

All roads lead to Congham this Saturday for anyone who is anyone (and last year that topped 200 entries) in the slow-moving world of the gastropod.

The World Snail Racing Championships have been held at Congham, near King's Lynn, since the 1960s, after founder Tom Elwes witnessed the event in France.

Organiser, Hilary Scase explained: "Snails like damp conditions and as Congham is surrounded by ponds and is very low lying it is just right for snails.

"Competition is fierce and with ideal conditions this year times are expected to be fast - there are hopes that the record course could be smashed."

The record of two minutes, over the 13-inch damp cloth covered table top course, was posted by a snail called Archie in 1995.

Last year's winner Sidney recorded a more sedate winning time of three minutes 41 seconds to pocket winning connections a silver tankard filled with lettuce.

Hilary continued: "Snail trainer Neil Riseborough has been preparing the ground for weeks and has a special secret for encouraging the snails to put out their hones and head at top speed for the finishing line.

"Children from local schools have been training snails for months with ambitions that a special snail "found in granddad's cabbage patch" could be a winner.

"But there is no knowing. Snails come from all over the country, anybody can take part, a rank outsider might just surprise everybody.

"Congham is to snail racing what Newmarket is to horse racing," Hilary concluded.

The World Snail Racing Championships are part of Congham Fete, which helps to raise money for St Andrew's Church and takes place from 2pm on the cricket field on Saturday 16 July.

For more information: www.snailracing.net

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/world_snail_racing_championships