Sometimes I feel ashamed to be Filipino.

[anatess]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,496046,00.html

But before you blast Filipinos in general, you kinda have to understand the culture over there. Yes, they eat birds. Yes, some people eat food items that are rare for the thrill of it. Yes, majority of them are not educated in wildlife, let alone its conservation and preservation. So, I'm hoping my kid will stay interested in wild life and take an interest in educating the Filipinos. That's really the key here. EDUCATION.

When you say you are poor in the United States, we get confused because when you say poor in the Philippines - it means living a hand-to-mouth existence where you don't know where your next meal is coming from. And there are A LOT of them there. It is a third world country for a reason. A quail, no matter how rare, is food. A dog is food. An adult reticulated python is a feast. Anything you can get your hands on is food for these poor people. It's been that way for thousands of generations.

I am hoping it will change. Praying. My mom is a dog advocate. She worked to stop the practice of eating dogs in my town and succeeded. She started with my dad! My dad's family got a group of investors to create a small preservation for endangered national wildlife - like the national bird - the Philippine Eagle - and sea turtles and some species of fish. It is not even scratching the surface. And they worked half their lives on it. The government finally instilled a ban on dynamite fishing which wiped out the coral reefs after years and years of debate. So, I don't know. Maybe it will come. But, right now, it is looking really bleak.

[Bruce Whitehead]

Good on your family for its conversation work, and if there is one... there are more.

Hopefully having documentation will now allow it to become protected and the locals can become educated regarding its survival.

Cool stuff. And poverty is poverty, regardless of where you are. I live in an urban centre... I would not know an endangered bird if it roosted on my balcony...

Thanks for posting.
Bruce

[llovelace]

I know Bruce I sit with Grandma (my best friends grandmother) and she tells me stories of "the past" she is great, now if I could only get her to stop feeding the racoons, opposums etc. she loves all animals and they all must be fed lol, so all food scraps go to them

[Bruce Whitehead]

Heh... my gram was more the... `oh look at the cute squirrel i caught in my trap`... seconds before dunking it into the rain barrel. *YIKES*

[fattielumpkin]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,496046,00.html

But before you blast Filipinos in general, you kinda have to understand the culture over there. Yes, they eat birds. Yes, some people eat food items that are rare for the thrill of it. Yes, majority of them are not educated in wildlife, let alone its conservation and preservation. So, I'm hoping my kid will stay interested in wild life and take an interest in educating the Filipinos. That's really the key here. EDUCATION.

When you say you are poor in the United States, we get confused because when you say poor in the Philippines - it means living a hand-to-mouth existence where you don't know where your next meal is coming from. And there are A LOT of them there. It is a third world country for a reason. A quail, no matter how rare, is food. A dog is food. An adult reticulated python is a feast. Anything you can get your hands on is food for these poor people. It's been that way for thousands of generations.

I am hoping it will change. Praying. My mom is a dog advocate. She worked to stop the practice of eating dogs in my town and succeeded. She started with my dad! My dad's family got a group of investors to create a small preservation for endangered national wildlife - like the national bird - the Philippine Eagle - and sea turtles and some species of fish. It is not even scratching the surface. And they worked half their lives on it. The government finally instilled a ban on dynamite fishing which wiped out the coral reefs after years and years of debate. So, I don't know. Maybe it will come. But, right now, it is looking really bleak.

It sucks that a bird might go extinct because it is on the "grocery list" but such is life in areas of the world that are very poverty stricken. I am all for conservation of animals and such, but if it is me or the "dominican monkey hawk" ( made up animal in case you didn't know ) it is me every time. I have four siblings adopted from rural russia and three of them lived alone outside for a while at ages four, six and eight(with the oldest taking care of them by stealing and begging), I believe and they ate anything they could steal or catch, including but not limited too, lizards, frogs, snakes, etc.... no fish because the river was too polluted. they actually will not eat fish to this day, five years later because of it. But, anyhow, I don't think they were wondering if their meal was endangered or not.

[Bruce Whitehead]

Conversely... in developed nations (hate that expression) we kill animals all the time and drive as many into extinction because we cannot stop destroying their habitats.

We may not eat it, but we ensure its demise regardless.

Bruce

[fattielumpkin]

Conversely... in developed nations (hate that expression) we kill animals all the time and drive as many into extinction because we cannot stop destroying their habitats.

We may not eat it, but we ensure its demise regardless.

Bruce

very true, often times the only things "developed" about said nations are the suburbs and mini malls.

[Smith285]

I'm not sure if I agree with the conservation of an animal if it is someone's only source of food. Instead of getting investors to build a preservation for endangered animals, I would have set up an organization to get food to these people.

I know this isn't the case and it isn't what your family intended to do... but it's almost as if they're saving the wildlife instead of saving the people. Animals have rights, but not at the expense of humans.

[dizzy]

Conversely... in developed nations (hate that expression) we kill animals all the time and drive as many into extinction because we cannot stop destroying their habitats.

We may not eat it, but we ensure its demise regardless.

Bruce

Sad but true.

[fattielumpkin]

I'm not sure if I agree with the conservation of an animal if it is someone's only source of food. Instead of getting investors to build a preservation for endangered animals, I would have set up an organization to get food to these people.

I know this isn't the case and it isn't what your family intended to do... but it's almost as if they're saving the wildlife instead of saving the people. Animals have rights, but not at the expense of humans.

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