Two southeast Iowa men are facing charges of poaching turtles.

Officers charged 36-year-old Mike Kerr of Mount Pleasant and 38-year-old Jack Schafer of Fairfield with using illegal methods to take turtles, failure to have commercial gear tags and illegally taking and possessing a turtle. They face fines totaling $2,299.

The state Department of Natural Resources says conservation officers acting on a tip staked out traps on July 9.

Fortunately, we don’t poach turtles here in South Carolina, and to hear that Iowans in their upper 30’s are doing so is just a crying shame.

The next time you go across the bridge and down the road, be sure to stop by and see the Angel Oak Tree on Johns Island, especially before they screw everything up with the rumored highway expansion - something that ties right back into Charleston’s urban growth dilemma.

You won’t be sorry you made the short trip, but hurry while the canopy is still full and 1,500 years of nature hasn’t been ruined by man’s reckless abandon.