Matt Trapani

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Mar 11, 2025, 5:38 PM

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Updated

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The Transportation Security Administration says that a man from Pennsylvania tried to smuggle a turtle onboard a flight at Newark Liberty International Airport last week by stuffing it down his pants.

A TSA spokesperson said that an officer had to pat the man down after he triggered security alarms. The spokesperson said that the man admitted to hiding a turtle in his pants and pulled out the live turtle wrapped in a blue towel.

The man told officials that it was a red-ear slider turtle, according to the TSA.

The Port Authority Police took possession of the animal and said they would contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local animal control officials.

“I believe this is the first time we have come across someone who was concealing a live animal down the front of his pants. As best as we could tell, the turtle was not harmed by the man’s actions,” Thomas Carter, TSA’s Federal Security Director for New Jersey, wrote in a statement.

Officials say the man missed his flight and police escorted him out of the security checkpoint.