Texas man filmed beating turtle to death with hammer says it was self-defense

The two fishermen thought they had a whopper on the end of the line. It was a late June evening at Lady Bird Lake, a reservoir in Austin, when 55-year-old Terry Wayne Washington and a friend began reeling in the hefty catch. Along the shore, passersby stopped to watch the struggle. But there was no giant fish bending the pole in half. The men had snagged a large snapping turtle. When it was weighed later, the turtle tipped the scale at 40 pounds. With the claw end of a hammer, Washington’s companion hooked the shell to pull the animal on land. The turtles had been bothering the two all day, the fisherman later told police, as they were chasing fish away. Onlookers said it appeared as if he wanted