Hey Fang Yin's back! I apologise for my emo-ing the other day. I don't like people lying about us, but I still question if Zhou Zhenglong intended to lie in the first place.
Anyway, Li Quan was instructing the workers to put flyers about Save China's Tigers around the district. It was something about normal people being able to save us. You know, like you don't have to be famous to do your part in saving us. It's just like global warming. Every little thing counts.
Right now, the organisations helping us are keeping the work to themselves, selfish people. So currently the only thing we can actually do now is tell other people about us. Maybe, you can even adopt us! But that would require a whole lot of money...
Never mind! You can still tell people about us, and maybe just ask them to adopt us. Here's the website:
http://english.savechinastigers.org/I'm sure we can be saved! Positive! Yes we can!
Fang Yin
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on10:07 PM
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Hello, Tara here
Bad news. I just discovered 3 new villages surrounding the cave in my territory; MY hard earned territory!!! The shepherds are bringing their flocks uphill to graze now. They are driving away the other prey and are cornering me and the cubs.
The winds are also bringing more and more stories of leopards in their final battles against these men and I have a feeling that it will be my turn soon, at least to save the cubs.
My prayers are more frequent, and every meal is truly a blessing from the heavens. I feel pity that my cubs have to live like scavengers at such a young age. I had always dreamed of raising my cubs to be noble strong leopards that I could always be proud of. I had dreamed of giving them the best cub life I possibly can whatever I had to sacrifice. My dreams are shattered; survival is the only mantra constantly ringing in my head. I just want all this confusion to end!
I cannot go a second without having to rush my cubs into hiding because a shepherd might have seen me. Jigme is being very strong, for all three of us, I am so proud. However, Kitsi is struggling to survive. Her little body is becoming more and more frail. More often than not, my little Jigme gives up his portion of food for his sister. If only these men could respect us a little more; I would be so thankful.
There is little time left. I fear that my cubs and I are entering the darkest hour as we speak. My end is near, I just don't know when or how I will go. My destiny awaits me. Until the time comes I will just have to stay strong. Right little Jigme, that's a good cub! I am so proud of you! (Oh no I can't start crying in front of my cubs)
I feel the Gods will be kinder to me in my next life, I have not done any wrong... but if in my next life I encounter the same fate I would rather not come back to earth. I would still want the legacy of my kind to live on.
Please go to this site and spread the word about snow leopards to the rest of the world, at least for my sake.
www.snowleopard.orgMy blessings to my cubs...
Farewell my comrades, you have been wonderful company.
Until the darkest hour,
Tara
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on11:09 PM
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Yeah, Fang Yin's back. And no I'm not going to sugercoat anything unlike some people.
Yes, the lie. The irritating lie. You know what, I'm not going to elaborate much on it. Upset, getting emo; deal with it. Just look this up:
www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-06/29/content_6803353.htmand you'll be on your way.
Have a good day.
Fang Yin
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on11:06 PM
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I'm starting to get used the environment in the tank. The lab-coat people occasionally walk around to check on us and all of us agree that they don't mean us too much harm. Kidnapping us is one thing, but there's word that each one of us helps the men document something about our species and help save the marine life.
I know many animals in captive life feel wronged and denied of their natural environment, perhaps its because sea slugs don't need much space. But if my folks can live a better life with me as a living example to the people, I wouldn't mind too much.
There are plenty of people out there who sell and buy us and put the wild into even more horrible situations. I've heard that people kidnap fish to sell to pet shops, forcing us to live in glass bowls without corals. Without living substance, we die, very quickly.
Even then, I heard from the sharks (these sharks are fed, and since I've been here, I've discovered that no fish would want to eat a toxic defense slug like me) that they are brutally killed to be served as delicacies. In the chain of things, everyone recognises that everyone is eaten and will die. But the men kill not for their survival, but in excess. They have something unheard of in the animal kingdom, leftover food.
There is always a balance maintained in nature, if it tilts, it levels back out, when given the time. If only everyone kept in their place, there wouldn't be this flux in hazards to the sea. The fittest would survive, but now the fittest can hardly survive. I saw the crabs scuttle when the tide went out, they were dying in the heat. The ocean can destroy toxins and dilute pollution, only problem is, men take more than they give back, unless you count their trash.
I suppose we could go against the men, but its their sheer size. They can trample on insects, small animals, kill the large ones in a single blow. Marine life just needs to be rid of water and we would just die out. If only what we did by letting ourselves be pawns could really benefit us all. But I don't see any of the men making any sacrifices. Sure, they complain about attacks from wild animals, but whatever is done is done out of absolute necessity.
We all dream of the sea, us here in THE TANK. No one can live in a captive life. I'd like to see the humans try it themselves. Late at our presumed night, we feel the waves and currents of the ocean brush against our skin and gills. We hear the dying plankton in the water around us speaking of the world they were taken from.
Even now, I feel myself tiring from captivity, the endless rapping of the boisterous children's fists against the glass, the men coming in and the dolphins and sharks pretending to enjoy their company, only because it relieved the monotony of swimming in the enclosed space.
How did a little sea slug know so much? Knowledge from the little television set the security guard turns on can be very dangerous.
For perhaps the last time,
Etana Chromodoris
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on11:20 PM
Hello there.
Tara here. I must say, without the blue sheep, or bharal as they are commonly called here, as easy prey, there isn't much to catch. Small pikas and hares now and then. I'm being careful not to exhaust the number of prey here. Yesterday I was lucky; I caught a chukor partridge!
I'm just glad I'm surviving. Its been a few days since we arrived here. Usually, it would be time to move again for another home within the territory but I think I should stay here for a while and let the cubs get familiar with the area.
The cold winds bring with them stories of fellow leopards. Scary stories come from both east and west, north and south. It is like the leopards have nowhere else to go. I can't stay here forever, and I don't feel comfortable taking my cubs to where my territory overlaps with that of other leopards. Thw winds tell stories of how snow leopards cannot have that vast and large territories anymore. What now? What can I do that's best for my cubs?
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on2:25 PM
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Hey it's Fang Yin. Sorry I was quite upset over the news the last time. I couldn't believe that Li Quan's own kind would do something like that to us. Maybe that's why my mother refused to tell me anything about the past.
But now I understand fully. It seems only I was shocked about what Li Quan told us. Apparently she has talked to us tigers about that many times over. I am one of the youngest tigers here in the reserve, so maybe it was not
that embarrassing.
It is true, we were proclaimed pests and were killed, but later in the years the humans banned hunting us, but by then it was too late.
But Li Quan didn't give up on us. She built this reserve, and are treating us with love and care. Quite a contrary to the past, now isn't it?
You know, the humans at first did quite weird things to us. Among our usual food, which I must say is quite dry and tasteless, they put in other objects. They taste better, though. I believe it is called "game".
After a few days of eating "game", they brought us live animals. They taste so much better. Sometimes they bring us to other places where we have to catch these animals ourselves.
The humans say they want us to go back into the wild. Maybe they are training us to catch these animals. In the wild I'm quite sure humans wouldn't go close to us, never mind feed us.
Sometimes they bring us to other places and sometimes some of us don't come back, particularly the adult tigers. Those that do come back tell us that they bring us to somewhere far, far away and teach us how to catch live animals more intensively. The humans there don't harm you. That's what those tigers say, anyway.
There are many groups of humans trying to help us. They are called "Save China's Tigers", "Wildlife Research Centre of the State Forestry Administration of China" and the "Chinese Tigers South Africa Trust". Long names, huh? How do I know all this? Li Quan told all of us yesterday. She seems kind of lonely, doesn't she? She's always talking to us nowadays.
Here are some sites about us:
http://www.ofcats.com/2008/09/south-chinese-tigers.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_China%27s_Tigershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Tiger#http://english.savechinastigers.org/http://www.tigers.ca/Foundation%20overview/TSCTP1.htmAnd here is Li Quan's own blog!
http://tigerliquan.blogspot.com/Oh I have to go! Li Quan is going to tell us more about these groups of humans. Oh wait I can hear her say something from here...What?!! A lie?!!!! Oh I
MUST GO!!!
Fang Yin
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on11:03 AM
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There is no night or day here. No one leaves and turns the lights off, like the lab-people do. There's just a continuous stream of artificial light. The fish here are quite friendly, just bored of swimming around the same territory everyday. We're blocked by huge glass walls and a walkway is built in between tanks. Only sharks, stingrays and some fish can get over the partition.
The past few hours were spent furnishing my new home, within a nice cluster of corals and around some really tasty sea sponges. There aren't many other nudibranches here. Things feel really congested after a while and it seems like the fish never seem to stop passing by the window of your house.
There's also a small television kept on all the time, so that the security guard has a bit of music or something to listen to. Sometimes a channel called National Geographic is turned on and I got a glance at other wildlife. Lions and tigers, apes, snakes, spiders, camels, horses, all swept up in the currents of human rampage.
Of course, I could never hear anything, just the murmurings of all the other fishes. Then came a screening of unrealistic fishes. A clown fish couple torn apart by a shark. The father was left with a single scarred baby clown fish. Then humans took the son to the surface, to be sold in a pet shop. When the young clown fish tries to escape with the help of his other captured friends, little does he know the dangers his father faces to find his son. At last, the family is reunited, although the other marine animals end up in little plastic bags floating up on the currents near the dock, unable to reach their original habitat.
I suppose that's how life will end for me and the rest of the fish in this tank. Wasted a way so that others can tap at the glass, staring at us as though we're some freak show. Once in a while though, a person has this weirdest expression. A sour look of fascination, if there is one. As though the life we're living represents the wild we came from or were born away from.
It is a sad scenario. But I have an idea that I may as well take my days in my stride. Its useless to try and escape from this. What can a slug do to change her life against such odds?
Etana Chromodoris
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on6:04 PM
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Greetings, comrades
It is I, Tara once again. Sun has not shown itself yet, it should start to rise in an hour. We managed to travel around 4 miles in in the north-west, away from the village of men. Yes Jigme, I am very very proud of you and Kitsi! Ah, such a rambunctious little cub.
Anyhow, I am so relieved that we made this trip. The cubs are tired, I expected that, but they survived with a great story to tell. I hope the men don't find us here. I do not want my cubs to see bloodshed at such a young age. It would hamper them for life. A snow leopard must be a courageous hunter, but gentle and noble at heart, and that is how I will raise my cubs, no matter what it takes.
I had better explore the area for a relaible source of food. Without the blue goats to prey on, I have to rely on the smaller hares and birds.
Until the sun next sets,
Love, Tara
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on8:53 PM
To all the folks
I can't talk much now. Currently, I am in a little plastic bag. Placed into a little metal tray, just like how the Spanish Dancer Nudibranch got transported to...gulp, THE TANK.
It is really quite a scare. In about an hour they would place me into THE TANK, filled with all sorts of marine life. In the ocean there's always a nook or cranny hidden from a predator's sight, but in THE TANK, all of us know that it is too small for so many diverse species suited to different areas. Compressing the entire ocean to accomodate their kidnapped lives is not a good idea.
I'll be fish bait in an hour!
You can only pray now that the sharks aren't too hungry, that the bigger fish have other food and the corals are nice and big and friendly. Namely, the corals ought to be able to hide a little 3 inch thing like me.
I can still see my old tank and the dying coral waving sadly goodbye to me. We had formed a certian relationship during the past two days. Fish foster friendships quickly, because those humans can so easily drive a stake between us.
If only a current could take me away the same way it brought me to the surface waters,
Etana Chromodoris
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on7:32 PM
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It's been quite a while. I'm not going to go into formalities. I'll get straight to the point. I have to go soon. Li Quan is coming back.
She is the person who built this reserve. She is the one who is trying to save us. She is the one who opposed her own kind.
It was her who told us this. In the past, we were of large numbers, but we hunted the humans' chickens and other pets. We were proclaimed pests and enemies of the humans, and were eliminated, one by one. We attacked the humans; they tried to kill us and our kin. Conflict between us was aggravated. The war began. The humans won.
Our ancestors fell, and those who survived hid. We are the only ones left, according to Li Quan. Should I trust her now?
Fang Yin
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on12:58 PM
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A Photo of me
Greetings, once again
Nothing has changed much since I've entered the laboratory and slugged about in my minsicule tank with the dying coral. You could try talking to it, but the only response was a slight movement in the still salt water. I miss my home very much, every thing is so foreign here.
On the walls there are charts of all kinds. An electronic board states the precise temperature, salinity, pH value and other measurements of the sea water just a short walk from the laboratory, so I heard the men in lab coats saying.
Several charts show pictures of evolution, extinct species of marine life, diminishing numbers of marine creatures in the past decade and the uncountable changes in the oceans. Slugs may seem like goo and organs sliming their way through the ocean floor, but we do take literacy courses.
Along the walls there are so many skeletons and jars of preserved corpses of seaweed, worms, fish, reptiles, eggs, and other sorts. It makes one faintly sick to think about the shell that once lived and breathed in the free seas being nothing but a reference to mankind.
I spoke to the Spanish dancer, a flamboyant species of nudibranch from the opposing tank. She says that the men in lab coats were environmentalists, people who tried to save the environment by caring for animals and pleading with people to stop global warming. She couldn't say more than that, she was being taken into THE TANK. All I know is that any slug or fish taken into THE TANK, was never seen again.
I would like to know why the environmentalists do this to us. If they do want to save us, wouldn't it be better to leave us alone?
Till I get some answers
Etana Chromodoris
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on3:24 PM
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Greetings once again.
Tara here, its dusk now, and the cubs have just woken up. In a few minutes we will leave for the cave 3 miles ahead, away from the goatherds. However, being away from the goatherds means being away from the goats. We snow leopards know that food is scarce here in the mountains so any prey that comes by, I will catch; I have no choice.
Its time to go little ones. Come on now, follow behind me. The cubs are full of energy now, I think we will be able to cover at least 3 miles tonight. I pray we do. I don't want to have to sacrifice one of them for the sake of the other two. It is not the snow leopard way. However, once again, desperate times call for desperate measures...I had better not think of it.
Well, I should save my energy for the trip.
We shall meet again.
Love, Tara.
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on6:42 PM
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Hey there, my name is Etana Chromodoris, the sea slug. My name Etana means slug in a European language and Chromodoris is my family name. I'm a special type of sea slug, you've probably never heard of me. Our animal group is a variation of the sea slug, only we are called nudibranchs, which means "naked gills".
I can't understand why I am giving such an introduction. My actual feelings are in total confusion. For the past week I've been kept in a glass tank with a pitiful, dying coral. The sea has no current and there is no smell or sight of any other marine animal.
Those cruel divers, they just took me away from my friends and family. But since I've been here in the laboratory, I've learnt quite a bit, if there is any thing good to come out of this situation.
A captured animal is caught for good, but it does not become tame or docile, it just waits. If only one of the scientists would touch me, but anyone who knows anything about nudibranches knows that we have highly toxic glands.
Till next time
Etana, the sea slug
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on9:08 PM
Hey there. It has been about three days since we've meet, and I already feel as if we're good friends, just like the humans that take care of us.
The grass here is pretty nice. There aren't any prickles, and simply lying on it can make me drift off into a deep sleep.
I've been thinking a bit for the past few days, and I have thought of something. Do you think these humans want our cubs because we are on the verge of extinction? They don't want us extinct? Well don't look at me like that! How am I to know that these humans mean well when they are taking our children away from us? I'm a tiger, not a human! At least I'm not like those ridiculous peacocks who think they are the smartest in the world.
But now, come to think of it, why are we South China tigers near extinction in the first place? Do you think it has got something to do in the past? Maybe there was a plague that almost wiped us all out. Or maybe it has something to do with the tales my mother refused to tell me. Maybe the humans did something to us.
I must find out. For all I know, these humans that are currently taking care of us may be planning something. Something horrible.
Fang Yin
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on9:06 PM
Greetings, once again.
Today was a very normal day, I caught a small hare not too far from our cave at dawn. The cubs can see quite well now and are a little more active. Its good that they're learning to play with each other; it gives me more time to hunt. I slept the rest of the day.
The action began at dusk. The cubs were still asleep and I was at the entrance of the cave, keeping watch. All of a sudden, I heard a leopard's painful wailing. Immediately, I took a few steps forward and stood on the edge of a nearby rock. Further down, about a mile away, there were two men with sharp objects and nets. I couldn't clearly make out what exactly was going on, but I bet the leopard was putting up a fight. Those men were attacking him! I know that us leopards would never put up a fight unless we were being attacked!
The fight was short. I heard a final yelp followed by silence. The men dragged the leopard away to the clearing at the lower part of the mountains. The clearing was where a large group of those men lived. I never want to go there.
Here's a picture of what happened after the men caught the leopard.
That has been the second attack I've seen these past few days. I'm afraid the men will learn how to climb up to the higher rocks where I live and attack me and the cubs. We could move to another part of my territory, but the cubs are too young to travel long distances. My mother only made me and my sister move when we were about a month old. If my cubs were older, we could easily be able to travel about 15 miles in a night.
What do I do? Should I stay and protect my cubs if a man attacks me? The men are too strong. Should I move to another cave? The cubs are too young to endure the journey? I'm in a dilemma here. I need help. Hmmm, maybe we could travel short distances at a time. We snow leopards don't usually do that, but desperate times call for desperate measures. It's final, we start our journey tomorrow night. In the meantime, I could scout ahead just for a few metres and look for a new cave. This is for the best, but it's not going to be easy.
Wish me luck.
Farewell, Tara.
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on12:06 PM
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Welcome. I hardly get any visitors outside the fence, except for a few.
My name is Fang Yin. I’m from China. There are hardly any of us nowadays. Maybe that’s because we are all that’s left.
Who’s “we”? We’re the South China tigers. JenB, Cathay, Madonna, Coco, and Topaz: That’s almost all of us. And we’re all are put in a reserve. We’re extinct in the wild.
You must be wondering how and why I know so much about these human things. I’ve lived my whole life in the reserve. Many humans come and visit us; they feed us, they make sure we do not fall sick, and they have given us an area of protection.
In the past, humans did worse things. Much worse. Or at least that’s what my mother was told by her mother. My mum didn’t dare repeat the gruesome tales she had once heard. She told me to be grateful with what I have now.
But now these humans keep trying to make us give birth to cubs. Yes, please trust that I am female! I’m getting a bit worried. They want our cubs so badly, who knows what they will do to them?
“Hmm? Yeah I’ll be right with you!” I’ve got to go. Topaz is calling. I promised her that I would play a game of tag with her. I’m still worried about what those humans may do to our cubs, and I'm curious about what happened in the past that was so bad that my mother refused to tell me. I’m going to go investigate, and I’ll tell you what I have found out the next time we meet. Till then!
Fang Yin
<$BlogItemAuthor>lived on10:12 PM
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