Releasing a Malayan Box Turtle few years back. The turtle was about to be killed for food, luckily somebody noticed and bought the turtle immediately. The turtle was then passed to our volunteers and released back to the wild few days later. Malayan Box Turtle is a common exotic pet, also a delicacy to people who believes Malayan Box Turtles have some sort of medicinal value (which is not true). Our volunteers have seen many exotic turtles (and some other wildlife of course) kept as pet during our house visits or interviews in rural areas like Lamunin. When asked about the reason they keep those turtles, answers were quite simple, its just because the wild turtles were washed down from hills after a storm or the turtle happened to pass by their house (lives next to jungle without any fencing), they like the turtles or kids wanted a pet so the wild turtles stay and became their wildlife collection. These people are different from those exotic pet sellers/poachers/bird-trappers who just want quick money, they mean no harm to the animals and sometimes they feel that living in the wild is difficult, the wildlife need to deal with harsh weather or environment, so some people think that living as pet is a lot easier and safer, at least they dont have to search for food themselves and wont be hunt down by other species. Yes, living in the wild is a challenge, is dangerous, but it is nature. We cant just keep every living things in a cage/tub/bin forever to keep them safe, are the wildlife happier in captivity? The answer is NO. Education is the key, creating awareness is what we should do. There is a group of people trying to make a difference in Brunei, they are called 1stopbrunei Wildlife. https://facebook/1SBWildlife Support them and together we can make a difference. If you happened to come across wildlife like Malayan Box Turtle, find a nice remote area and release them, if you have no idea where to release, please ask 1stopbrunei Wildlife politely, maybe they can help to release during their next jungle exploration.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 01:12:37 +0000
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