The Sharks Need Our Help

Sharks may not be the cuddliest creatures on the planet, but they serve important roles as apex predators in the oceans and have mostly been unjustly vilified as dangerous man-eating predators who kill wildly and without reason. After watching the movie Sharkwater, I know this isn't the case. Due to the rising middle class in several Asian countries, sharks are facing unprecedented danger from overfishing. With no regard for laws, boats send out miles of cruel longlines, catching everything in their wake, including sharks, turtles, dolphins, and albatross. And in one of the cruelest practices in fishing, sharks often have their fins cut off and then are thrown back into the water alive to sink slowly while drowning.

You would think that world heritage sites including the Galapagos Marine Park and Cocos Island, Costa Rica would be immune to these types of practices, but unfortunately, there is very little enforcement and the citizens of many of these countries have very little incentive to protect sharks as finning is a multi billion dollar business. Taiwanese mafia basically control the shark finning industry out of Puntarenes in Costa Rica, and help the locals build roads in exchange for looking the other way while they grossly exploit Costa Rica's natural resources.

The Galapagos Marine Park and Cocos Island in Costa Rica are a couple of the only places in the world that scalloped hammerheads gather in huge schools of hundreds of individuals. Someday I would love to have the opportunity to swim with scalloped hammerheads in the Galapagos, and I hope that they are still there when I've finally had enough training to do the difficult dive. Watch this incredibly moving youtube video to see how amazing Cocos is and how majestic these beautiful animals are.(Ignore the part at the end with the dramatic sinister music.)The second video is one of my favorites and shows the majestic whale sharks of the Galapagos Marine park.

         


If you're outraged by the cruel and illegal overfishing of sharks all over the world, but especially at world heritage sites, there are a few things you can do:

1. See the Sharkwater documentary by Rob Stewart. I promise you will never look at sharks the same way again.

2. If you're an American Express cardholder, you can vote to have AMEX fund Rob's project to educate Costa Ricans on the value of Cocos and the sharks there. Vote here.

3. Go swimming with sharks. No seriously. Shark tourism is an incredible way to prove the monetary and ecological value of preserving the shark populations all over the world. I'll post some links of reputable shark diving tours available.

4. Do not eat shark fin soup. Refuse to eat at restaurants that serve shark fin soup. Most of the restaurants in Toronto are offering shark fin soup that does not come from legal and reputable sources. If you are of Chinese descent, consider a shark fin soup free wedding.

Please Do Feed the Fish

My fish need feeding on a daily basis. Just click in their pond to drop food and watch them swarm!

Wild Weekend Continued (AKA Why Sulcatas are NOT Pets)

On the Sunday of my Wild Weekend, I went to the Ontario Reptile and Aquatics Expo. As usual, it's a sight to behold. I've never seen so many lizards, turtles, tortoises, tree frogs, fish, and snakes. Oh the snakes. They're everywhere. Many of the animals are bred in captivity... especially the little ball pythons, which dominate the exhibits. They come in all sorts of funky patterns and colors based on weird genetic crosses. The pic to the right is a baby ball python checking out her human captor! It was a very cool expo, and I enjoyed it... my rants below are just an aside!

I, of course, was there to see the tortoises. Looking for a Russian Tortoise in particular. I've always wanted one, and I figure I'd better get one soon or else it'll outlive me. The Russians were few and far between at the show, but there were plenty of other tortoises to choose from, including box turtles and red footed tortoises.

And that brings me to the sulcatas. Inevitably some (irresponsible) exhibitor brings in a couple of very adorable sulcatas (African spurred tortoises), and invevitably some (irresponsible) person buys them. As babies, they're a sweet and lovable 2-3 inches, but as adults, they can grow to a powerful 36 inches and weigh over 100 lbs. So of course when I saw them, I suppressed a groan. They need very warm temperatures (they're from the southern Sahara), they need a ton of space, and as adults, they can be extremely destructive. Oh, by the way, they also live for like 80 years. So consider that if you or your friends are thinking about a sulcata as a pet. Click here to see a great picture showing the size of a baby vs an adult sulcata.

On that note, there were also a few very adorable and tiny little boa constrictors. My favourite question to ask people selling exotic pets is "how big is it going to get?". In the case of these tiny little boas, the answer is "hmm... about 12 feet". I'm pretty sure it's illegal to own snakes over 10 feet in Ontario.

Anyway, consider these things if you're considering an exotic pet. Tigers, lions, and sulcatas are not pets!

Wild Weekend!

Since I've adopted Cole at the "Friend" level, this weekend I was able to take a tour of Bear Creek Sanctuary. The whole thing blew me away. From the vervet monkeys to the wolves, and any of the 16 Siberian tigers that are currently at the sanctuary, it's obvious that the animals are all healthy, happy, and very well-cared for. Many of the animals at bear creek come from zoos that have run out of space or from private owners that didn't realize how big a cute little tiger or lion cub might get. It breaks your heart to think that these beautiful animals might otherwise have been euthanized if the sanctuary had not taken them in.

The tour guide Stephanie, one of the sanctuary volunteers, gave a great tour and was really knowledgeable about all the animals at Bear Creek. After checking out a few monkeys and a sweet little raccoon, we were already into the tigers. We were immediately greeted by a massive tiger who rubbed up against the fence while "chuffing", which Stephanie assured me is a happy noise that tigers make instead of purring like smaller cats. If you want to hear what chuffing sounds like, click here.

We had a good view of Cole's enclosure, but he was sleeping inside. Apparently Cole's sister Kyra, who shares his enclosure, was not in a good mood, so Cole was staying well away... smart guy! After the tigers, we were into the mountain lions and the wolves. Tonka, a beautiful mountain lion, looked unimpressed by his human visitors. He just stared down with his piercing blue eyes. I'm reminded that mountain lions can jump up to 40 feet vertically. Good thing there's a fence between us! A friendlier cougar in one of the other enclosures came rubbing up against the fence purring (cougars are the largest cats that can purr). There's nothing better than a cat purring in my opinion... even if it's a cat that is about the same size as an adult human!

The wolf puppies, Takoda, Cheveyo, Wakanda, and Nequa were lively, very playful, and really fun to watch. On the way out, these 4 said goodbye with lots of howling. It was one of the coolest sounds I've ever heard.

After the wolves, we were on to some beautiful lynxes with their funny stubby little tails and beautifully tufted ears. Then on to Lola and Diablo, Bear Creek's most infamous couple! Lola is a huge and gorgeous African lioness and Diablo is a melanistic jaguar. In the wild, these two don't even live in the same hemisphere, but at Bear Creek, their love has been nothing short of a miracle. Though Bear Creek does not breed animals, little surprises sometimes occur. In this case, the surprise was two tiny jaglions (jaguar/lion hybrids). They may very well be the only jaglions in the world! They're incredibly friendly, especially Tsunami, who's more "lion", though Jazhara (who seems more jaguar) couldn't resist when we turned our backs on her and had to jump down to check us out.

Then we were on to Woody, a beautiful and unbelievably huge lion with no mane (he was castrated by his old owners - a biker gang). Though it was very hot and humid and he was having his midday nap, he eventually humored us by at least letting us get a good look at his handsome and gigantic face.

As we neared the house again, we could see a couple more African lions, and when one of the males started grumbling, the sound resonated through my chest... it made me wonder what the neighbors think of a full grown male lion roaring in the middle of the night!

Back in the basement area of the house, we were in for a treat... monkeys, lemurs, birds, and 4 gorgeous white Siberian tiger cubs that Bear Creek is babysitting for a zoo. The cubs never stopped moving and whenever I played peekaboo with them over the board on their enclosure (there to stop them from climbing the fence and falling), one would inevitably jump up at my face. Then one of his siblings would tackle him and take him down! They were very cute, but already very strong and rambunctious with long sharp claws!

I can't imagine how expensive it would be to run a place like Bear Creek Sanctuary. It's entirely run by a staff of dedicated volunteers who rely on donations to cover their costs. If you can adopt an animal, please do. And if you're in the area, you'll love visiting! Each adoption includes a certificate and a framed photo of your animal. No pics allowed in the sanctuary, but here's me and Cole.

Welcome to My New Blog!

Welcome to TheAnticraft's blog. I'm a crafty individual who's creations don't always turn out as expected. But hey, the mistakes ARE the music, right?

Recently I learned about a wildlife sanctuary that's less than an hour away from my house. They need a huge amount of funding, since they take in lots of very large cats, including tigers, lions, jaguars, and mountain lions. I can't even imagine how much they spend just on meat. I wanted to help them out, so I adopted a beautiful tiger through them. But I wanted to do more, so I've created an etsy shop with the sole purpose of raising money for the sanctuary. Also, after seeing the Christian the lion video on youtube, I frankly became quite obsessed; I ordered the full-length movie on the internet (great movie), and read George Adamson's autobiography My Pride and Joy (excellent book). My shop's profits will be split between the George Adamson Wildlife Protection Trust (ww.wildlifenow.com) to help animals that can be reintroduced into the wild and Bear Creek (www.bearcreeksanctuary.com) to help wild animals who will never make it back to their homelands.