There’s nothing better than going to the beach with the kids and collecting seashells. So much fun, unless you happen to be collecting whole clams that are a protected species. A woman in California took her kids to the beach and they collected what they thought were seashells, but actually they were an endangered species, pismo clams. Seventy-two of them to be exact. She got a ticket that day and received a notice in the mail that each clam carried a fine of $1,222, amounting to 88,000 clams…uh, dollars. Holy clam chowder, batman. After explaining the situation to a judge in court, her fine was reduced to $500.
Now, she laughed it off and actually got a tattoo of a clam to remember the incident. Remember kids, if both sides of a shell are intact, that’s a live clam, and you need to leave it alone. If you see a part of a broken shell, that’s the ones you collect.
