Well, as a matter of fact, in the US back in the day baby turtles were a common seasonal novelty item in low-class department stores (what they used to call “5 and 10 cent stores” until they became “dollar stores”). Also baby alligators (of sewer alligator urban legend fame) and, around the Easter holiday, baby chickens (called “peep-peeps”) with their pinfeathers dyed pastel colors.
Of course, these infant animals were almost universally doomed to short, unhappy lives and early deaths, either in the period when the children played with them as if they were toys or after everybody lost interest in them. So at least in the US some laws of this type are the result of someone finally saying, “WTF are you thinking? Stop that!”
I’m actually quite fond of turtles (they tend to be pretty chill companions), but they aren’t completely easy to raise and keep healthy even when you’re committed to taking care of them. They definitely deserve better than being sold as knickknacks for 5-year-olds.
Anyway, I’d argue that there’s more of a rationale for regulating the sale of baby turtles than there is for forbidding gay marriage.
EDIT: Also:
https://www.newsweek.com/2015/06/12/illegal-animal-traders-have-turned-baby-red-eared-sliders-health-and-337903.html
last edited at Nov 6, 2018 8:25PM