Remember her (the one I saw at Gem Island while I was there)?
She died.
And I’m upset. So upset that I wrote a letter to the papers.
I read your report with much sadness because I was there during the recovery of Puteri Kapas as a guest of Gemia Island Resort. I watched as three doctors, volunteers, dozens of onlookers who came from other islands perhaps and hotel guest gaze at awe and curiosity at this pup which represented its dwindling kind. Granted the excitement; after all, not many have ever seen a wild dugong. I had much hope that the Ministry of Fishery and volunteers who be able to turn things around but alas, what a sad day.
Puteri Kapas had been roaming in the waters, injured and starving for a few weeks before she was rescued. It has been about two weeks since she made it to the papers and I was surprised to hear that she was still being housed on Gemia Island in their pool (admittedly, it is not a very large pool). There was no shade in the pool except for a kayak and inflatable mattress. While the volunteers and doctors tend to Puteri, I watched by the sidelines, wondering. Do we really know what we are doing? There were nearly ten odd people crowding around her when she’s force fed with a bottle (I even recorded the entire event on video and pictures) and two men chasing her around the pool at least three times a day to apply ointments and medication on her body.
Why was it not housed somewhere which was little more private – somewhere indoors perhaps? If it was in an outdoor enclosure, why allow visitors to go right up to the edge of the pool? Why the need for so many people in the pool while the people that were needed was just the handler, and the doctor?
So many questions; too few answers.
Perhaps what was lacking was the speed in which decisions are made and carried out AND the necessary skill and knowledge. Let us be honest. We are simply not ready for husbandry of this kind YET. It happened once before with Si Tenang and it has happened again. Are we going to continue to let this happen over and over again before we finally admit to ourselves that we need some kind of input from our foreign peers? That we ought to do things a little bit faster? I’m not condemning the deeds of our local marine biologists – I think they have done the best that they have BUT maybe…just maybe, we need to admit once in a while that we need help from others and that we need to improve our techniques.
We are guardians of all that is on this planet. We have already lost the leatherback and many of our native animals are on the brink of extinction. Lets not lose another of God’s magnificent creation.
People just cannot goddamn learn from their mistakes, you know. This isn’t just another “fish” – it’s a creature with emotions…it is a creature on the endangered species list.
Blardy hell. Maybe I should sue the goddamn Ministry of Fishery for contributing to the decline of dugongs in Malaysia.
:furious:
ps: Ignore the horrible spelling/grammatical errors. I’m upset. Shoo.
