ONE DOLPHIN COST US $ 200,000, BUT THOUSANDS BEING BUTCHERED IN JAPAN

The mass slaugther goes ahead with the backing of the government, but without the majority of the population being aware of it.

The former dolphin trainer has been fighting to protect the marine mammals since1970.

But the Japanese fishermen,backed by the country’s government, are slaughtering thousands of dolphins off the coast, while ignorring both international protests and concerns over contaminated dolphin meat being sold to the public.

Part of the marine mammals’s flesh is also sold in Japan, despite warnings of high-level mercury contamination, according to animal rights activists.

Dolphin activist Richard O’ Barry said “the dolphin meat is highly contaminated.” He also sharply criticzed Japan’s government for keeping both the controversial slaughter and the contamination secret from the Japanese populatiion.

Annual slaughter in Taiji and other Japanese fishing towns, often cruelly stabbed with kinves, hooks and lances.Individual,particularly beautiful dolphins are selected in a lagoon with the aid of dolphin trainers and sold off at high profits to aquariums and dolphin shows around the world.

Fishermen disable the dolphin’s sense of direction by hammering on metal rods held into the sea,thereby herding them into a laggoon secured by nets.

It often happens that babies are seperated from their mothers and that pregnant dolphins miscarry because they panic.

Mr O’Barry said that one dolphin can fetch up to US $ 200,000 and some of the survivors of this year’s cull were destined for Germany.

Between October and April, some 16,000 to more than 20,000 of the mammals are brutally killed in the annual hunt in Taiji, a quaint whaling town 700 kilometres south of Tokyo, waves lap against steep rocks of a popular national park.

However, visitors are kept well away from the slaughter happening in a secluded lagoon near by Environmentalists also accuse Japan of killing the dolphins and other small whales because thy eat many fish.

A part of the killed mammals is processed into pet food and fertiliser.

The activists secretly filmed a movie in the Taiji lagoons, which is to be presented in January 2009 at the Sundanese Festival.

MR O’Barry remains hopeful about being able to stop the killing soon.

Hundreds of live monitor lizards are seized in Malaysia

Malaysian marine polices have in last two weeks week of October 2008 seized the protected animals in a jungle cabin in Pahang state.

The alleged protected animals including 1,244 clouded monitor lizards, 17 water monitor lizards and 11 pythons are believed to be worth about 500,000 ringgit, said Mohamad Hassan Hasmin who is the east coast marine intelligence chief.

The animals are prized for supposed medicinal value,and served as “exotic” Chinese and Vietnam dishes in restaurants.

There are many hunters in Pahang state, who are well paid by the capitalist smugglers, have been hunting the protected animals for years long due to good demands
from Hong Kong, China and Vietnam.

The animals are illegally transported to China via Thailand, Laos and Vietman.

In the past a lot of wildlife Pangolin had been seized in different areas inside Thai soil around the border.

The smuggllers used the jungle routes to avoide the border polices intercepted.

Thais are also hired in the illegal transportation from the Malaysia border to Laos border from where continued to Veitman.

Beside the protected animals, dogs are also needed in Vietnam.

Almost monthly, tens of thousands of dog are collected across the Thailand ant sent to Laos via Mae Nam Kong river and then to Vietnam markets.

The dog meat is not only delicious but also cheap.

Korean peoples are likely to be the most to have eaten dog’s meat.

Basically, all of the exotic animals in Thailand are not permitted to be trade in.

The worat culprits of the illegal wildlife trade are some of the countries in Southeast Asia.

China’s reputation is among the worst when it comes to the illegal trade in wildlife.

Wildlife Smuggling

Wildlife trade is illegaly among the largest trades in the world,rivalling the illegal drugs and arms trades.

The figures suggest the trade is worth about US $ 10 billion per year.

It is frightening figure indeed.

Famous cases of illegal trade include the black Rhinoceros and Pangolins.

Horns of Rhinoceros are used for daggers handles as a symbol of masculinity in Yeman and meat of Pangolins are used as an Aphrodisiac in China.

China’s reputation is among the worst when it comes to the illegal trade in wildlife.

Traditional Chinese medicines include Rhino horns,Tiger bones and Tiger penises and Bear’s bile.

All are unproven Aphrodisiacs and are extremely costly to buyers.

In the past, Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has frequently seized a large number of Monitor Lizards and wildlife customs officials seized Pangolins, believed to be destined for Veitnam via Thai and Laos.

Wildlife smugglers are able to obtain the Pangolins and Monitor Lizards in the forest area in Malaysia where the hunters are collecting the most wanted Pangolins meat of which is naturally the best food for the rich Chinese.

They commonly believed the meat of Monitor Lizard and Pangolin were Aphrodisiacs and worth more than gold on the black market.

Apparently, more than 200 Monitor Lizards were confiscated by police force in the northeast earlier October, ‘08 and Wildlife customs officials seized the 288 Pangolin kept in the wood boxes at Don Muong Airport.

They are hunted for the bush meat trade .

The mother and the daughter reunited , they have been separated for 35 years long

Long period of wishful thinking  ,which  heartily stimulates the daughter to meet her mother, ended with happiness.
Young Thai baby called Somi was adopted  by a missionary  couple  Morrie Palmer  from the United State .

She was taken  from her home in a small village in Udon Thani province since  1973.

Suan, the teenage mother of  Somi, put her  new baby up for adoption at an office of the US Air Force in the provincial capital .In Minnesota, and later in Nebraska, Somi grew into a typical, normal US child, then teenager, then woman.

Her family and siblings  loved her.

But  she was not typical.And life was not normal.

“From the age of five, from my very first memories, what I remember is that I was different.

Life was difficult.

I didn’t belong.

“When  she was at the age of 12 “I couldn’t talk to Asian kids because they all spoke their own language, Somi recalled .

“Some of the boys and girls wouldn’t talk to me because of my dark skin “she said.

“Some of the kids  like me, but their parents told them they had to stay away from me because I was different, I was darker .

The right to pursue happiness was continually  snatched away from the adopted Thai.She felt  isolated  outside her immediate family.

“I really craved friendship or just attention. It was terrible .I started to do destructive things”, she said, to get that attention-nothing violent, but unpleasant to remember.

But this is not a sad story.
Somi’s life took to a decided turn for the better, and not too many years later she was happily married to an American man, Jay  from Fort Collins in northern Colorado.

Her wonderful husband said “Well, we have the means, so if  you want we can go to Thailand and find your family.” So the newly married couple picked Thailand as their honeymoon destination.
Her adoptive parents had kept her birth certificate,identifying the original hometown and name of her mother, Ms Suan.

But she set out to discover her roots and find her blood relatives, all she had was that piece of paper and to resolve to satisfy her desire to discover her roots and remove a lifetime of hurt.

In days, hours really, the fears,objections and difficulties faded.

The mother and the daughter walked up to each other  and  gave each other a big hug.

“I was so happy  to have found her ,but there were so many emotions going on right then, I didn’t know  which one to feel.” said Somi.

The older people checked her fingers, they all remembered  baby Somi had beautiful long fingers.

There were tears,and many cheers.

Life will never be the same for Somi Palmer.

She has dug deeply into her past, discovered her true roots,and struggles with a dual identity.

It is not the big stuff that bothers her so much.

She knew that she was different from her earliest, childhood memories.

All of that is part of the life with which she has struggled openly.

“I am so relieved. For 35 years I felt guilt, giving up my daughter for adoption, even though I knew  I could not look after her.

So young, and my husband left me.

And for most of that time, I thought she was dead.

I don’t know  where that story came from, but it’s not true, that is so great.

And now my daughter has come back.

I am so happy.

She is healthy.

She is successful.

And such a woderful daughter, not one time did she want to know  why I gave her up for adoption.

She understands me so well. “Somi is back in Colorado, almost exactly halfway round the Earth.

She cannot just pack up and move to Thailand as she sometimes dreams.

She has family in the US and that complicates things somewhat.