Send-Off Hoopla Coaxes Turtles Out of Their Shells : Wildlife: Members of a non-native species are flown to Florida habitat. Their animal magnetism draws paparazzi .

Two boxloads of snapping turtles left Los Angeles Friday the way so many people in this town of wanna-bes and showoffs only dream about--discreetly attended by an airline escort, an omnipresent publicist and a small clutch of paparazzi.

Not that they noticed.

The celebrity turtles, which are not native to the West Coast but were found earlier this week at Castaic Lake, were packed snugly with moss in moist cloth sacks and laid in cardboard boxes lined with Styrofoam for the flight to their natural habitat in Florida.

They were, however, rather annoyed by the obligatory parting photo near the ticket counters at Los Angeles International Airport.

“This is what I call one nasty . . . , this one here,” said Florida wildlife officer Tom Ratner as he pulled one of the turtles--its powerful jaws wide open in a disagreeable grin--from its cocoon to mug for the cameras.

Ratner offered Wednesday to take the turtles, which are illegal in California, to a new life in his home state. Of the half-dozen shipped with Ratner, four were found by state wildlife officials at Castaic Lake. Two others were being let go by a lab at Chapman College in Orange County.

The turtles originally were scheduled to be killed because they are not indigenous to California and can endanger native fish if allowed to reproduce in local waterways. They can also inflict a painful bite on human swimmers. The animals were given a last-minute reprieve after their plight was publicized.

Ratner, a reserve lieutenant with the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission, called officials from the California Department of Fish and Game and said the Miami Museum of Science had offered to take the turtles.

So on Friday, as holiday travelers headed home, turtles Nin, Ja, Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo and Michelangelo were hustled into the pressurized pet compartment of an American Airlines DC-10. “They get treated just like someone’s cat or dog,” said Morris S. Casey, assistant manager of passenger services for American.

But since this is Los Angeles, where publicists snap at every chance photo opportunity, Ratner was coerced into posing prior to takeoff beside a costumed Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtle--a stunt orchestrated by a persistent woman representing the company that makes the toys.