“Turtle Burger” by flickr user ‘flaunted’ (Cute Photoshopped image, but obviously inaccurate & misleading.)
A man tried to smuggle his pet turtle through security in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport by hiding it in a KFC hamburger.
The incident occurred on the morning of July 29, when a man, surnamed Li, was about to board China Southern Airlines flight 345 to Beijing, Guangzhou Daily reported. As Li passed through airport security, X-ray screening machines detected a few “odd protrusions†sticking out of a KFC burger that the man had packed in his bag.
Airport staff determined that the protrusions looked suspiciously like turtle limbs, and asked to inspect Li’s luggage.
“There’s no turtle in there, just a hamburger,†Li reportedly insisted. “There’s nothing special to see inside.â€
Li finally acquiesced to an inspection after repeated requests from airport staff, who uncovered the pet turtle hidden inside the burger. When asked why he had devised this strange idea, Li said that he had only wanted to travel together with his “beloved†turtle.
After staff patiently explained that turtles could not be smuggled on board the plane, Li reluctantly agreed to allow a friend to care for his pet while he was away.
Certainly, one more piece of evidence that we live today in a world over-regulated by nincompoops. Why is it really a problem if a fellow carries a pet turtle on board an airplane, after all? The only problem is in the mind of the regulatory bureaucracy which reflexively takes the position that whatever is not compulsory must be forbidden.
Hat tip to Emmy Chang.