Officials shut eatery after finding turtle in sink

Restaurant owner says animal was supposed to bring good luck

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updated 6:14 p.m. ET June 12, 2008

YORK, Pa. - Putting a snapping turtle in the kitchen sink got a York city restaurant shut down. Jim Zhao is working to bring his Panda Chinese Kitchen back up to code and hopes to be able to reopen on Thursday.

Zhao told WHTM-TV that "in China, a turtle is like a Buddha." It's supposed to bring good luck. Inspectors ordered the restaurant shut down on Friday after finding the turtle and other health code violations.

Zhao says he rescued the turtle because he saw a man trying to get rid of it in the parking lot, so put it in the sink until he could release it. He's now given it to a friend.

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Zhao says the restaurant has never been shut down under his management, although he acknowledges that it has been closed in the past for other health code violations.