http://www.newsminer.com/news/kris_capps/turtle-survives-mysterious-pet-killings-in-denali-park/article_c862cb9e-406d-11e3-9193-001a4bcf6878.html Guinea pigs, ferrets, turtles, snakes?

I mean a sack of groceries from the store would have been much cheaper. So I wonder why would someone want to do this? Are they curious or demented or mentally ill or are these animals part of their diet in a place where they grew up?

I'm just speechless really.

WTF, that only further makes me think of Alaska as a savage land of snow and barbarism. Who does this? That's just.....well.....bizarre. ._.

Guinea Pigs are eaten in Peru as all I know...

Probably some youtube videos involving surviving in frozen wasteland too pop up soon

In remote villages of the Yukon, while a rare occasion, it is known for the sled dogs to be eaten in order to survive an unforgiving winter. Although this is entirely different.

It sounds to me like a bunch of kids participating in some sort of sadistic ritual or getting high and doing some creepy ass witchcraft crap.

I'm not surprised---there's places that eat dogs like cattle (seen videos of it) so I'm not surprised that some places eat pets .

Well it makes me think it was a visitor because any true Alaskan would be killing and eating a moose, bear, grouse, or other yummy animal. And they would not buy anything but the hunting licence. Also an Alaskan would not buy any firewood from a convenience store because we know we have 424,491,520 acres on which to get firewood. Unless it was some teens doing a "wonder what those taste like" or "let's shock some folks on youtube" or someone mentally ill, I can't imagine an Alaskan doing that.

Then again... it could be just a group of guys that were sitting around and discussing the most exotic thing they have eaten. A case of beer later... they are shopping at Petco.

I don't think so. May have happened once or twice but they value their sled dogs. They can usually get enough to live on.

In all seriousness, I always imagined Alaskans kinda like Nords. Hunters, Lumberjacks and hardy types. This seems more the behaviour of someone off their rocker.

Well as an Alaskan that is very disturbing.

Granted "uncommon" was probably not the best term. Just going from testimony from the Yukon Men series.

Original post edited.

Damn weird Californians.

Ive known of people who would do that just so they can say ive eaten that, i know people that travel overseas to eat animals that are illegal to eat here, so they can say again ive tasted that.

They sound pretty strange to me. And possibly under some sort of drugs. Perhaps just stupid. Hard to tell.

You may be right. Turtle soup, cooked rattlesnake, roasted guinea pigs, they're all normal food but they can be considered exotic by a Westerner (even thought they're not unheard of in the US). They probably just wanted to know what they taste like. I'd say it's pretty risky to eat a random python from a pet store, but I don't think they cared about risk.

What pisses me off is that they left the other animals to slowly freeze to death.

Could have been a Halloween prank. If not I can just imagine the health issues people eating those kind of animals must have besides the possible mental ones considering the mess they left. Here's hoping they killed the animals as painlessly as possible before cooking them.

They are like that and in fact many who are not Native Alaskans have that exact ancestry.

I know right and the fact that it's a mere 35 or so miles from me makes me cringe. They probably passed right by my house (can't be seen from hwy though) on their way from Petco to the park.

They may have been watching too much Anthony whatever his name it on CNN who goes to different places and eats local food. That's a thought anyway.

I'm just glad Lucky was so lucky.

Yes LSD and hippie cult images were flashing across my mind as I read the story.

I have eaten snake and turtle in the past. Some places of the world those animals are considered delicacies and not pets like mentioned above.

If someone comes across a snake or turtle in the wild where ever that may be I think it's fine to eat it in accordance to local laws, but shopping at a pet store that's a different matter entirely.

I mentioned they might be from a part of the world where they ate those types of animals.

I'm wondering if they broke any laws here. I doubt however they would ever be able to figure out who was responsible for it.

Sounds like my uncle moved to Alaska as he's eating snake, badger, guinea pigs, hedgehogs and turtles and in one restaurant you can order some of those and more an its all legal (let me emphasise my uncle ate them just so people dont go assuming i ate them).

While I have had rattlesnake on several occasion, I have had turtle quite a bit in my time. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to live across the globe. I spent a year in Hong Kong and it was home to some of the most exotic cuisine of anywhere I have been. HK is an international port of trade. EVERYTHING you can think of is bought and sold somewhere in Kowloon.

The local believe to gain certain attributes from a given exotic. For ex... eating owl grants wisdom and drinking from a container with a tiger male six organ grants labido stamina. Of course all of these are illegal, even in HK but that doesn't hinder the availability.

Seriously? The medical term for male genetalia is censored?

You mean Anthony Bourdain? I hate watching that guy. He comes of a recovering drunken lush that's consistently falling off the wagon.

I would think it'd be Andrew Zimmerman of bizarre foods really.

Could be. I have no idea, TBH. That idiot happened to be the first to come to mind. I overlooked the CNN part.