How To Save A Turtle
March 13th, 2008
i once did something crazy.
i washed and scrubbed an entire tank full of terrapins.
and i also helped wash and clean all the terrapins that stayed in there.
i’m not talking about a little plastic tank with a pair of little itty-bitty terrapins you bought from the pet shop. i’m talking about a 100 or so monster-sized adult terrapins that are twice the size of my head. and i’m talking about a HUMONGOUS AQUARIUM made of cement and stone that is bigger than my living room… a humongous aquarium filled with murky green water, the floor and walls of which were covered with a yucky sludge of rotting vegetables, mud, terrapin shit and some other unrecognizable sediments. No words can properly describe the stench and filth of that tank!!!
a picture of the very tank we washed, found here
see how gross that tank is!!
about 15 of us rolled up our sleeves and walked barefoot through that sludge to clean the tank. we hosed the tank down and removed that muck stuck to the floors with our bare hands and rakes, and we picked up each flailing monster terrapin and gave their shells a good scrub. then we scrubbed the floors with brushes and water, making sure everything was squeaky clean before we left the place.
why? So that the terrapins in the Bota Kanan River Terrapin Conservation & Breeding Center (run by PERHILITAN) would be happy in a cleaner home :)
the river terrapin is an endangered species – only 25 female terrapins were found to have laid eggs on the banks of Sungai Perak last year, compared to the tens of thousands that used to swarm the riverbanks back in the early 1900’s. this Conservation Center that we were at – and whose tanks we cleaned – was started by PERHILITAN to keep these terrapins from going into extinction. they have released about 40,000 terrapins into Sungai Perak ever since the start of their breeding program :) it’s really admirable, the work they do there.
now i want to talk a little bit about the brothers of terrapins, and an animal that is very familiar to all of us Malaysians – the turtle.
come nesting season, huge turtles are known to descend on the beaches of Terengganu to nest and lay their eggs. it’s a spectacular event that i daresay is quite the pride of biologists in our country. but like the river terrapin, the nesting activity and headcount of the turtles in our seas are dwindling frightfully. in the 60’s, there used to be about 3000-4000 leatherback turtle nests found on our very beaches, but in the past decade, there are only LESS THAN 10 nests per year. and these nests are mostly infertile.
those statistics are extremely scary, and if this keeps up, we are going to be losing a magnificent marine species. i’m sure i don’t need to explain why it’s important to preserve nature and wildlife; surely everyone already knows the reasons why. what I’m going to do though, is tell you – the individual – how you can help save the turtles.
1. Don’t Eat Turtle Eggs / Meat
you’d think that with all this focus on turtle extinction, people would know well enough to stay away from eating turtle eggs… but apparently they don’t. in my recent trips to Terengganu, I’ve seen ‘telor penyu’ for sale in a few markets. people buy and sell them, and it’s not very discreet. i don’t care what you say about the ‘unique experience’ of eating turtle eggs or ‘because other people eat them then so can I’… it is wrong. by buying or consuming turtle eggs and meat, or even keeping quiet when you see them being collected or sold, you’re harming the turtles and contributing to their extinction. so please, for the sake of a beautiful species of marine life, please don’t buy or eat turtle eggs and meat.
(these are terrapin eggs from the Terrapin Conservation center!! we got to see them in the nesting ground :D)
2. Don’t Litter
i know how it’s so easy to just chuck that plastic bag or cigarette butt into the sea when you’re out on a boat or having a quick tan on the beach, but each time you do that, an animal may die from choking on your litter. turtles are known to die from eating plastic bags floating in the sea (and there are definitely lots of plastic bags floating around in our seas), so do what you can to reduce the amount of litter in our waters :)
3. Raise Awareness
every cause needs people to believe in it before it can work. i’ve never been one to sit down and be quiet about an injustice being done, and I hope that everyone can do the same :) sometimes all it takes is a loud and clear sign that PEOPLE CARE, before the relevant authorities start doing anything about the problem.
4. Volunteer
you can volunteer with the WWF, who are very active in their turtle conservation efforts. volunteering your time and energy to this cause is a huge step, and i hope that by writing this post, i have at least stirred the curiosity of one person who would be interested in volunteering with a turtle conservation program. come the summer, i may do so :) haha i’m graduating from terrapins to turtles!!!
5. Donate to the WWF
you can do so on their website (http://wwf.org.my), or you can just pick up your mobile phone and SMS WWF(SPACE)Your full name(SPACE)Email address and send it all to 39398. each SMS donates RM3, which will go into their valiant efforts of habitat conservation for the turtles. c’mon, this is by far the easiest of the 5 steps :) do me a BIG favour and send an SMS too, okay?
ta-da!
i’m not receiving a single cent for this post. i returned their offer so that they could engage one more blogger who will in turn be achieving Step #3 up there through his or her blog and impact his or her readers on this issue. like with all efforts, little steps go a long way, and i hope this post that i’ve written eventually goes a long way too in increasing awareness about our turtles.
all it takes is a little bit of kindness to save a turtle :)
and if you would like to try your hand at cleaning a terrapin tank, you know where to holler ;)
the terrapins after we cleaned them, picture taken by Yun. Yun don’t you feel proud looking at how clean the floor and the terrapins are!!! hasil titik peluh kami :P
Entry Filed under: General
60 Comments Add your own
1. Eley | March 13th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
i’ve been to ma daerah for their “save-the-turtles” program and also to adopt a nest. and we saw 3 leatherback turtles! HUGE!!! :D the eggs are so fragile that if you even apply a little pressure, it’ll crack. :( :( :( baby turtles are SOOO frigging cute.
2. Bravo | March 13th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
‘nuf said.
3. Jun | March 13th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
u shud get involved in those volunteer progs abt wildlife conservation in south america or africa. very fulfilling experience.
4. skyler | March 13th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Pinkypau you are so cultured *big shiny eyes
5. grace | March 13th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
wao…impressed haha.
Thumbs up for doing those wash clean stuff!
6. Fu Han | March 13th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Eew, eew, eew, eew, eew, eew.
7. sheon | March 13th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
nice job.
may i suggest you try organizing some charity events and get all of your readers….*cough* us….to participate? i’d gladly help….. :)
8. yun | March 13th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Su Ann!
omg, you brought back so many memories. bota kanan, bota kiri! and the terrapins were so scary! you know i never managed to carry the terrapins by myself. i was worried that ill drop it and kill it. hahah. but yessss, i still feel very proud looking at the clean, shiny floor. it was one heck of an experience cleaning that muddy, shit-filled “pond”!
9. pinkshirtz | March 13th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Goody goody .. i once went to kuala terengganu, ma daerah … a place where giant leatherback turtles laid their eggs. Then, we helped collected them and bring them back to a protected hatchery. And every night … we’ll wait and see the hatchlings! Cute little things!
10. aimee | March 13th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
haha i remember this. i had to go look at some random claypots instead of cleaning the turtle tank with you guys.
11. ronin | March 13th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Way to go girl! I hope to raise my two sons to have environmental. political and social/civic consciousness like you. You make us all proud.
Btw, I donate on monthly basis to WWF through auto debit of my credit card.
12. Farah | March 13th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
I’m rather surprised how the terrapins could still live in that state. I mean, the male ones probably couldn’t even see the females to mate cause the water’s waaay too cloudy;
Mr. Terrapin - “Baaabyy where are yous…?!”
Ms. Terrapin - I’m here my prince charming! Follow the vibration of my tone in the water and find your way… If you find me it’s meant to be!”
*tickles Ms. Terrapin for using such a cliched line on her man!*
Oh well, I’m swerving here and there. This was at BRATs, yes?
13. loopy loop | March 13th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
i love you guys
=)
14. foreverjas | March 13th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
wahhh wahhh wahhh O.O
15. Loke | March 13th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
i have just sent the SMS donation. keep up the good work, Pink Pau!
16. fern | March 13th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
oh oh! i have always wondered how i could get involved with these sort of things. But procrastination usually gets the best of me :( i’m glad you wrote this post. Where do you get the information?
17. ront | March 13th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
eh you sure those fellas prefer shiny clean ah? maybe the filth and moss on them are similar to those ‘war-scar’ and tattoos leh.
18. Terrapin lover | March 13th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I loooooooooove terrapins! They go very well with rice! Here’s one of my favourite recepies:
http://recipes.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Terrapin_Soup_Recipe
19. pinkpau | March 13th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
WTF
20. ashleighhhh | March 13th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
you go girl. you’d be the last person i can imagine cleaning up the muck in that tank. keep it up.
i like river terrapins. the endangered kind. have always found them fascinating. i’ve seen a gigantic one, which fitted nicely in an excavator bucket. it was huge.
they’re considered delicacy though. not surprised to see recipes =(
21. martian | March 13th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
i want some pointers of how not to move like a turtle. can gimme?
22. chm | March 13th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
bravo….. i wun go into dat shit even if u paid me 50 bucks…. i smell those damned turtles annually coz my cousins love 2 feed em… crap… more like terrapin soup lover……
23. yh | March 13th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Terrapin lover.. OOI!!! stop eating them!
24. Julie | March 13th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
omg how ironic! i just did a speech on saving the turtles for an assignment just yesterday! it was all about persuading ppl not to buy anything turtle-related n taking care of the environment just like ur tips up thr. i also mentioned the wwf sms donation n forced ppl to donate haha. anyway great job posting this up. hope more ppl will be aware bout turtles n pls DONATE! :)
25. turtle lover | March 14th, 2008 at 12:09 am
I’m glad you wrote this post. I love turtles but haven’t been to any volunteer program yet. The only thing I can do to help now is to donate regularly to WWF and also adopt a turtle from the SEATRU program.
who knows, maybe we’ll meet each other during one of the volunteer programs!
26. Michael | March 14th, 2008 at 12:10 am
aiya, just dont go kacau those animals. Touristy things are harming them very much.
27. winnderful | March 14th, 2008 at 12:15 am
u’ve not only donated to the WWF but also the telco too;p ( for any amount you donate, the telco cut takes/makaned almost half of that amount…ie: celcom 50%, maxis : 30% ) …
sometimes i rather donate directly than to sms if i can ..coz the ‘middle man’ demands ‘commissions’ lor -__- ….
but oh well, nvm it’s all for the good cause good thots right. ;)
28. Tim | March 14th, 2008 at 1:30 am
You should sign up for a subscription donation with WWF (like I did!). They take amounts of rm30/rm50 a month but if you use maybank2u they will cut an extra rm1 a month :/.
29. aira | March 14th, 2008 at 2:39 am
go green!
wait are turtles even green?
30. Ping | March 14th, 2008 at 9:16 am
That is one cool job you did there :-)
31. Calvin | March 14th, 2008 at 10:44 am
From a city girl who get herself cleaning the terrapins pond in some small town, I salute you Su Ann. I have been to that exact location once, during one of the modules of my National Service programme about three years ago. It was just that we weren’t given the chance to ‘bathe’ those terrapins. I am sure by posting this entry, you have defenitely achieve your step #3 there. Job well-done there.
If every single Malaysian, especially the youngsters are like you…
32. steven lee | March 14th, 2008 at 11:19 am
well done! michelangelo & donatello looks soooo shiny! raphael and leornado too! *pets*
33. SPR | March 14th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
whilst it is good to donate but pls donate directly to them. Dont use sms feature donation. First the telco will eat up some % and then the svc provider also will eat up some % unless of cos they get full waiver. If not rm3.00 donation, only rm1.00 reaches them.
34. lydia | March 14th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
my family has a monthly subscription to turtles and rhinos under WWF and it’s really cool. It’s not expensive and every once in a while they send you brochures and letters informing how progress saving the animals is going on! makes you feel like you have a pet somewhere out there *beams*
http://www.wwf.org.my/how_you_can_help/donate_main/index.cfm
WWF Malaysia is currently asking for donations to save the turtles, the oceans and the orang utans! Go go, visit the link! :)
35. alea | March 14th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
i always have a thing with exotic food and i tried eating a turtle egg (dont kill me i wanted to try T-T) and i hated it.
its like sucking chicken egg but its more fattening T____________T
if there’s one animal in the world that i feel sad the most is turtles. they’re so harmless and slow… cannot tahan. must save them xD
36. mimbo | March 14th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
hey pinkpau, can i date you? just a normal date :)
37. Erisha | March 14th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
its great to have someone like you who cares about the world & tkae the time to actually contribute in helping. Turtles really deserve their lifes. I’ve already send my sms just as you’ve instructed. hopefully many more would do the same! =)
38. foreverjas | March 14th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
urgh. urgh. i’m in penang and those umno ppl! @.@
39. madeline k. | March 15th, 2008 at 1:17 am
omg….this post brings back so many sweet brats memories!
40. Jeff from LA | March 15th, 2008 at 5:17 am
Bravo! Pinkpau, good for you for taking a stand in defense of these wonderful animals and in the environment. I’m so glad to see that at least one person is using their celebrity to defend an important cause. You’re my hero, ;).
Plus, this post is near and dear to my heart because I’ve always loved turtles. I hope people stop the practice of eating turtle meat or turtle eggs.
41. tw | March 15th, 2008 at 9:33 am
bring all the readers along when you go for clean up next time, i think there’ll be plenty of people outthere wanna help.. =P
42. Michelle | March 15th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I went to the one at Terrengganu. =D
I adopted a baby turtle as well.
43. ahlost | March 15th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Will do the 5th step in a while.. Thanks for sharing :)
44. rosewong.com » Blog&hellip | March 15th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
[...] Do Charity March 15, 2008 4:24 pm Rose Happenings After reading PinkPau’s How To Save A Turtle entry, I’ve decided to follow her four out of five steps on how an individual can save [...]
45. eunice | March 15th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
thumbs up to ya babe! i think you can win a beauty pageant already! haha, no seriously. i will WWF the WWFers with RM3 because that’s what i can do. (:
46. Missie | March 15th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Su Ann,
I am so proud of you! There are so many other bloggers that are “preaching” to save our endangered species and gave info on what to do but they never did anything! It’s good to see someone walk the walk (instead of just do the talk!).
I salute all of your efforts! Like someone had mentioned above, I do have dreams that one day I’ll have a little girl as well rounded as you. You are truly a beautiful person, both inside and out.
47. Simon Seow | March 16th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
So clean. Another charity work by a fellow blogger. So touch.
48. pinkpau | March 16th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
eley : you’re so lucky :( i waited a whole night once at rantau abang but didnt get to see any turtles :(
bravo : :))
jun : i would love to one day! i always wanted to participate in Raleigh Intl but never got around to applying :\
skyler : haha how is cleaning a big terrapin tank full of muck and goo cultured?!
grace : tqtq! not easy ok!
fu han : yes exactly :\
sheon : hahaha to clean turtle shit?! REALLY AH!
yun : bota kanan, bota kiri, rumah john kam… hahaha! i wonder how long it took those turtles to mess the place up again
pinkshirtz : omg did you really do that!!!! SO LUCKY!!!!!
aimee : do you also remember which hands, previously cleaning a turtle tank by picking muck up with their bare hands, prepared your dinner that night?? *wiggles eyebrows
ronin : you make me proud too, with your regular donation to WWF :) that’s more than i could do
farah : haha damn funny lah you. yesyes brats!
loopy loop : awwww! eh but who is this! is that you firdauz
foreverjas : yeah :\
loke : thank you!!! :))))
fern : i did this tortoise tank cleaning under The Star’s BRATs. but here’s a direct reply from WWF : In fact WWF will undertake another exciting season of monitoring hawksbill nestings at Pulau Upeh and other nesting beaches in Melaka (yes, there are turtles there too!) this year and they need volunteers in July and August. f you are keen to help save turtles, have more than a week to spare and are ready to rough it out, you can contact Arvind at ADevadasan@wwf.org.my or Grace at GDuraisingham@wwf.org.my. i may be signing up with them :)
ront : EH THEY’D BETTER APPRECIATE OUR HARD WORK :(
terrapin lover : WTF go away
ashleighhh : hey river terrapins were the ones that we cleaned! and whose home we cleaned!
martian : YOU dont need tips for speed
chm : yer :(
yh : yessss!! stop eating them!!!! /stressed
julie : persuasive speech, eh? :P i did something similiar in college. great topic you chose , i hope you got good marks!
turtle lover : refer to my reply to fern! you can volunteer with the WWF in July and August :) i may be doing the July one.
michael : yah all those flashlights and stuff scare them :|
winnderful : hey actually you’re quite right. i think i shall take the advice of some commenters and do the credit card thing
tim : see lah why you use maybank
aira : no they are a mucky brown.. hahaha
ping : thank you!! :)
calvin : HAHA how come you were there!!! what a strange place to be for NS.
steven lee : hahaha you know, it took me like a whole 2 minutes to understand wtf you were talking about. hahahaha i never really was a ninja turtles person
SPR : good point :) thank you for the info!
lydia : ahh you and your family are the coolest :)) kudos!
alea : why you eat turtle egg :(
mimbo : haha you ask Martian first
erisha : thank you for sending the SMS erisha! i’m just doing my little part in raising awareness :)
foreverjas : yeah i heard. ridiculous sore losers with ridiculous selfish petty thoughts
madeline k : I KNOW!!! hahaha
jeff from la : thank you :) i do what i can.
tw : hahaha that is a thought to consider!
michelle : what did you call it!!! :D
ahlost : thank you so much :)
eunice : thank youuu :D
missie : ahh you’re overpraising me! it’s just cleaning a turtle tank :)
simon seow : hahaha damn clean hor! it’s like shiny!
49. sheon | March 16th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
whats wrong with turtle shit?…… :P ……i can live with dog poo, hamster poo, chicken poo, cow poo…………turtle poo…no problemo!
50. pinkpau | March 16th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
eh sheon did we take a photo yesterday!!!!!!
51. alea | March 16th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
i only tried one cuz my uncle bought a bunch T-T
52. ahlost | March 16th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Can’t wait for PJ party pics :)
53. madeline k. | March 17th, 2008 at 12:07 am
hey u d girl who thought that i was quiet but i proved to b d exact opposite….oh yes….rumah john kam n how u hide a packet of chipmores in ur cleavage while we row down sg perak =) so many fond memories! brats rules!
54. eunice | March 17th, 2008 at 12:34 am
dear pinkpau,
i was running away aimlessly on the treadmill when my brain cells fermented on the thought: what if we got 100 bloggers to do #5, take a picture & post it on their blogs? can you say awareness!???
well i did a little post on it and hope you think it’s cool too! let me know what you think! i takut takut at first put 50 bloggers..but, cmon there has to be more than that right!! i have no idea of the figures, but if we can buy enough chipsters to feed a small african nation, we can surely send RM3 to the turtles right?
off to try win some bloggers!!
love, eunice
55. biboo | March 17th, 2008 at 2:18 am
Bota kanan…aiks..a place like 15-20mins? away from my uni and i’ve never been there before….shame on me…boohoo…
definitely saw that place of the map but never knew they needed help there
56. sheon | March 17th, 2008 at 9:24 am
pinks….nope! i remain the mysterious blogger that hides behind a shroud….. muahahaha………..
:) you too busy….me no want to break your rhythm…..you were doing such a great job… really…..you deserve a million dollar….!
57. mimbo | March 19th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
hey martian, can i date your gf? just wan to get to know how pinkpau works :D
58. lasilasi | March 21st, 2008 at 7:34 am
kudos to pinkpau!! i ve sent the sms, and wrote an entry here:
http://lasilasi.blogspot.com/2008/03/why-kioloa-part-i.html
59. leroy luar | March 23rd, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Hi Su Ann, I read with interest your… ahem, interest in marine turtle conservation. I’ve been involved in college level marine turtle conservation project, which blog you can visit at http://the-return.blogspot.com. however, I write with this point. If you are really interested in pledging not to consume turtle eggs, then you need to head right over to this link http://www.umt.edu.my/turtle/?p=18 and help prf Chan out by igning her pledge and getting your readers to sign it to. We’ve been doing this for a few months now and hope that you can help do the same. Do keep in touch..
60. Stephanie Pakar | May 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Hello, I found this post through kennysia.com. I found this post very informative and would like to include it in my university assignment. Therefore I would like to ask your permission to use it because Australia is very strict in copyright.
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