Police arrest Florida woman accused of "riding" sea turtle
MELBOURNE, Fla. -- A 20-year-old Florida woman was arrested Saturday months after photos in which she appeared to be "sitting or riding" on the back of a sea turtle were posted to social media, authorities said, reports CBS affiliate WTVR.
Stephanie Marie Moore had been wanted on a felony warrant since July for the "possession, disturbance, mutilation, destruction, selling, transference, molestation, and harassment of marine turtles, nests or eggs."
The photos taken on Melbourne Beach "flooded social media networks" after they were initially shared on Snapchat, said Sgt. Brian Hart of Melbourne police. Moore and another woman took the pictures, police said. That person has not been identified.
Melbourne is part of a 20-mile stretch of beach along Florida's east-central coast that "is home to the most important sea turtle nesting habitat in the United States," according to the Florida-based Sea Turtle Conservancy.
An estimated 90 percent of the creatures in the United States call that area home, which is why civic leaders go to great lengths to both protect sea turtles and to educate humans about them.
"People can live and play on important sea turtle nesting beaches without significantly affecting nesting success," it says on the conservancy's website. "But it requires a well-informed public that is committed to behaving in a manner that doesn't harm nesting turtles or their nests."