Sharks

Sharks, the apex predators of our oceans numbers are decreasing.  Various reasons can be given for this, but it all comes down to us humans killing them for our own consumption.  It makes me sick to my stomach when you realize how brutally these animals are killed.  One of the most inhumane practices is finning.  With this method the fins gets hacked off and the living body gets thrown back into the ocean.  The sharks either starve to death, are eaten alive by other fish, or drown.  According to some estimates, between 50 and 100 million sharks are killed each year.  Many of these sharks are “unintended bycatch”, but still get sold at the markets.  Sharks are especially vulnerable to overfishing because they grow slowly and produce few young.

A little more on shark fin soup:

While shark fin has no flavor and very little nutritional value, it does provide texture to soup, not to mention handsome profits to an industry estimated to be worth $500 million per year. Fins are dried, de-skinned, boiled and sometimes bleached, and then made into soup by the addition of chicken or fish stock, which provides the flavor. The fins of certain species are considered more valuable because of the length and thickness of the “fin needles” that they contain.

Until the 1980s, the consumption of shark fin soup was discouraged in China. However, the Chinese government relaxed its attitude towards what had been seen as an elitist dish, and consumption soared. Mainland China is now the world’s biggest end-market for shark fin: the effect on shark populations has been disastrous.

A bowl of shark fin soup can sell for as much as $100. Because of its perceived value, serving shark fin soup at private functions is a way of honoring one’s guests and signaling one’s wealth and status. Chinese people frequently express the view that no self-respecting host would ever leave shark fin soup off the menu, particularly at weddings and other important social functions, for fear of losing face.

Why do we need to protect sharks:

• Many shark species are strongly endangered and some are even on the brink of extinction.
• Sharks are highly specialized wild animals that play a very important role in the marine ecosystem.
• Sharks help to maintain a healthy marine fisheries environment by mostly preying on the sick, injured weak or diseased.

Asia’s gentle giants

Swimming with elephants

At Kuala Gandah conservationists and friends of the elephants are dedicated to locating, subduing and translocating elephants from areas where their habitats were encroached by plantations or other human development, to other suitable habitats throughout the Peninsular such as Taman Negara.  These guys have a difficult job, and have to do the job with limited resources and funding.  Capturing wild elephants are a difficult and dangerous procedure and ensuring that the animal suffers from the minimum amount of stress during such a capture aren’t always ensured. 

Currently, the Asian elephant is listed as a critically endangered species, with less than 40 thousand wild elephants in Asia and a maximum of  1200 wild elephants in Peninsular Malaysia.  Kuala Gandah houses a number of elephants which were brought in from Thailand and Myanmar.  The elephants were trained and used in translocation exercise of wild elephants in problem areas throughout Malaysia.  The centre also looks after orphaned elephants to ensure their continued survival, but it doesn’t mean that all the elephants at the centre will be released back into the wild (and that’s the sad part).

Visitors are allowed to feed the elephants and a limited amount of visitors then also get the opportunity to ride on an elephant and then go for a swim with them in the river.  I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to swim with one of these majestic animals.  And they seem to enjoy the attention.  The babies are too adorable, splashing and squirting everyone with water. 

Eyes are the window to our souls, and that’s also true in the animal kingdom. You can see the sadness in the orphaned baby elephants’ eyes.  And then you wonder, did this poor guy see his mother get shot by poachers or angry farmers?  This poor animal have experienced more sadness and trauma than I can ever imagine, and it makes me want to give him a hug….and so I did.  I hugged an elephant!!!

Tears were welling up in my eyes as I drove home.  Even though this is not the elephant’s natural way of living, at least they have a safe haven.  This whole day was awe-inspiring.  I will always thing of an elephant as a gentle giant.