Something fun this time

Anyone interested in helping me ID the following animal track? I spotted it a few years back on the bank of a river in Kedah.

I told you this is going to be fun. :-)

Are you eating the juveniles?

Boone and I were at Tioman last week, for work of course. The three nights we were there, food was the first and last thing on Boone's mind.

For those who have not been to Tioman, the main centre is the village, Kg Tekek. It is also where the airport, schools, clinic and the well-known Berjaya Tioman Beach Resort are located. You don't have to worry about food when you are at Tekek. There are plenty of food stalls along the main road, including the Ikan Bakar stall near Barbura Resort.

The last night we were there, we had Ikan Bakar with our client. We ordered a huge Kerapu, a smaller white snapper, stingray (cowtail?), sotong, telur dadar and sayur masak ikan masin. What caught my attention was the stingray. It was rather small in size.

Was it a juvenile stingray? Or is it that its species is naturally smaller in size as compared to other species?

I was concern because just a day before, I saw a juvenile shark (probably more than one) in an ice box on a wooden fishing boat docked on Sg Tekek. Its fin was still visible, but I believe not for long. The trade of shark fins is lucrative, thanks to the Chinese for being a big fan of shark fin soup. Just three weeks ago, I saw a number of juvenile sharks (without their fins) in a morning market at Brickfields, KL (my hometown!). This is worse than losing the adults (maybe there are not many adults left too). Fewer juveniles, especially of large fish and marine mammals, in the oceans also mean that there will be fewer adults in the next couple of years/decades. This will ultimately disrupt the natural balance of the web of life in our world's oceans.

The next time you visit an Ikan Bakar stall or a seafood restaurant, check out what they have. You'll be surprised.

REPORTING DUBIOUS RESTAURANTS IN 4 SIMPLE STEPS

The next time you find yourself in a restaurant/shack in some shanty town like USJ or Kluang or wherever that you suspect serves wild meat, remember to practice these 4 simple steps:

STEP 1

Ask what’s on the menu. In order not to arouse suspicion, don’t let them think that you don’t approve of wild meat (even though YOU DON’T!)

Customer: What meat you have?

STEP2:

If the waiter says something like, deer or wild boar, continue pressing. Ask for specific stuff.

Waiter: Well, we have deer, wild boar..

Customer: Tortoise? Bear paws? Pangolin?

Bears and pangolins are Totally Protected Species that cannot be hunted or sold (See the Protection of Wild Life Act 1972). If any of these species are served in the restaurant, something is certainly fishy around here!

STEP 3:

Make a quick getaway. For your own safety, it is vital that you do not arouse suspicion. Pretend you have an emergency, like your boyfriend called and is in accident or something.

Customer: Boyfriend calling! Yay!

STEP4

Once you are a safe distance away from the dodgy eatery (preferably already in your car or on your bike 5km down the road), call/sms the wildlife crime hotline. Provide the following information:

• Nature of the incident (poaching, smuggling, dodgy eatery)
• Location (Name of shop, address, brief direction, landmarks)
• Date and time
• Your name (optional)
• Images or video footage that may assist the investigation

Customer: Hello, I'd like to report a wildlife crime please!

CREDITS:

Original screenplay: Dylan

Photography: Randolph

Actor1: Ms Fong as herself

Actor2: Dude from restaurant down the road as the "dodgy" waiter

Extra: Boone

DISCLAIMER:

The restaurant down the road doesn't actually sell wild meat, and the waiters here are not dodgy in any way. Please don't ban us from eating here. It's not like we're spoilt for choice of places to eat near the office.

If the information you provide leads to a successful arrest and prosecution, you may receive a cash reward

...(although doing the right thing is its own reward)

What is the Wildlife Crime Hotline?

• The Wildlife Crime Hotline is a 24-hour hotline to allow members of the public to easily report wildlife crimes, especially those which relate to tigers. Once a call or SMS is received, each report is instantly channeled to the Department of Wildlife for action! The need for a 24 hour hotline is clear: poachers and smugglers don’t just work between 9-5!
• The Department of Wildlife has Wildlife Crime Units throughout the country, but they can’t be everywhere at once. The Wildlife Crime Hotline means there are more eyes and ears paying attention and able to provide timely information so that action can be taken against those who threaten our wildlife and break the law.
• We can’t afford to lose even one Malayan tiger – there are only 500 left in the wild. This is a great opportunity to help the authorities to catch the bad guys … and you can say you were part of the efforts to save the tiger

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CHECK OUT:

http://www.malayantiger.net

http://www.tx2.my

http://www.wildlife.gov.my/

After 1 bloody year in exile... MakanRelaksBersukaria is back and hungry for more, baby!

And raring to help save the tigers!

Not cougars, silly. Tigers!

Yes, we've joined the TIGERBLOGFEST2010!!

So for the whole of next week, we'll be concentrating on places where you should NOT makan. Because why? Muahaha... tune in next week :)

In the meantime, here's a nice picture of a boy and his best friend the tiger..

Zaime hearts White Kembara

Zaime still keeps the old faithful on his desktop.
A true love story indeed.
Next : ERE Annual Dinner Post! Stay tuned!

BungkusBasketBall

After rounds of training in and around the courts of USJ (+bullying of kids by Zaime), we headed to Sports Barn for our match with our WWF counterparts.


The match started with much hope.....


WWF's thumping win over us at ERE levelled the score after lasts month's bowling loss.
The score line was:-

1. Male 1st match 9-1
2. Male 2nd match 7-2
3. Female 1st match 6-1
4. Female 2nd match 7-1

which explains Boone's expression.

Chilings!

Over the weekend, the sports club decided to head on to Chiling Falls after desakan demi desakan from Randy and Dylan (I think?).

The journey to Kuala Kubu Baru took less than an hour from KL via the trunk road from Rawang heading to Frazer's Hill.

The hike in took us quite awhile.


We had to cross the river several times to get to the famed waterfalls.


God knows what Ain and Grace were trying to do on the way in.


Most of us were wondering how long the trek in was until we set our eyes on this.


The kids had a field day in the pool area of the falls. (read: Dylan too.)


We met interesting people there...


We were stuffing ourselves with great food!


Did all sorts of things there...

Get a room, Azrina!

All in all, the trip was nothing but loads of fun!


Where next?