| Porthole 24 Nov 21

ENCOUNTERS with wildlife are one of the many activities cruisers enjoy on shore excursions – but visitors to Las Vegas in the middle of the Nevada desert this week got a taste of something more commonly encountered on the ocean.

The Sin City police department confirmed a crackdown on the sale of scores of baby turtles, which were being offered by some entrepreneurial locals to passers-by on the famous Las Vegas Strip.

Officers released a video on Twitter showing the dramatic “rescue” they undertook when they discovered the illegal sales, captioned as “this is a first – even for Vegas”.

You have to admit that the red-eared-sliders (pictured) are extremely cute – but are perhaps not the sort of thing you’d buy on impulse during a Vegas binge because it’s illegal to release them into the wild.

They are expected to grow to about 30cm in diameter, and will eventually need a giant tank or pond to live in, reported local TV station 8NewsNow.