Quit Picking On Sea Turtles

Last week, a 54-year-old Sonoma County, California, woman pleaded guilty to charges of illegally importing guitar picks made from endangered sea turtle shells. The U.S. Attorney's Office says Qing Song pleaded guilty to one felony count on Wednesday. She was sentenced to 10 months of home confinement and a $2,000 fine.

What remains unclear is the extent of the US-based distribution. Song was more than likely just a single player in a much larger network. And of course, this verdict does absolutely nothing to decrease the ongoing illegal harvesting of endangered sea turtles for commercial trade that occurs throughout the tropics.

Song admitted to importing picks (or raw shells) of the Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) from China and selling them in the United States. According to the AP report, "some musicians apparently covet the shells instead of plastic picks because they believe they produce a superior tone."

Really? It takes an endangered species to bring out the Guitar Hero in some musicians? And all along I was thinking it had something to do with skill and inherent talent. I mean, Eddie Van Halen, Bonnie Raitt, and Johnny Cash seemed to do just fine with plastic.

Hawksbill turtles are rated as critically endangered - one step above being considered extinct in the wild, according to the World Conservation Union’s rankings of endangered species.