A young man poses behind a dead turtle. He is holding a reciprocating saw (foxtail) in his hand, which was used to cut off the turtle's head.

There is a wanted notice for this picture, in which the young man is doggedly advertised for search. Accusation: animal cruelty!

croet1
(Screenshot: Facebook, public status)

The content of this search message is:

An unspeakably terrible case of animal cruelty:
This guy is said to have cut off the head of the 200-year-old turtle, which can also be seen in the photo.
Let's make him known. I am incredibly shocked by such a disgrace.

SPREAD THIS PHOTO ALL OVER GERMANY BECAUSE THIS PERSON MUST BE CAUGHT!!!!
AND IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS OVERSEAS,
SHARE IT WITH THEM.
PLEASE HELP ME BECAUSE THIS HORRIBLE ANIMAL CRUELTER IS SOMEWHERE IN THIS WORLD AND
>>HE NEEDS TO BE CAUGHT<<.

SPREAD IT FAR AND WIDE.
SUCH A CRIMINAL!!! MY HEART IS REALLY BLEEDING FOR THIS INNOCENT ANIMAL!!!

Unfortunately, it must also be said with this report: the massive use of punctuation marks and capital letters has not yet made any report a truth. Because it's completely pointless:

  • to look for this man in Germany
  • accusing him of animal cruelty
  • to accuse him of a crime
  • to “grab” him

The classic hoax

Without beating around the bush: the colleagues at Snopes.com have provided comprehensive information. The original description of the image, which has been circulating on social media since May 8th, reads:

This guy used a saw all to cut the head off of a 200 year old federally protected animal. His name is Mason Wixon and he is from Cottonwood Louisiana, let's make him famous.

The English-speaking authors also made similar mistakes as the German counterpart. Even more: he wrote a completely wrong name in the description.

Samuel Rachal responded to this search and immediately stated that he could be seen in the picture. He also wrote that he did not kill the turtle with the foxtail, but rather shot it. You also have to know: Samuel comes from Louisiana, where hunting this endangered species of turtle is completely legal under certain conditions.

The clarification on Snopes:
http://now.snopes.com/2015/05/09/200-year-old-turtle/

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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )