#dadxconservation

Sent Dad the Smooth Otters picture I spotted in the Forest Reserve today and the Woodpecker (trying to give him an idea what her daughter is doing at work). He responded jokingly: "Do the otters have a baby with them? Can rear them at home." My immediate response has got me rolling my eyeballs to the back of my head. But because it's Dad speaking, I just couldn't get mad longer. I guess it's just him.

So I held back my emotion and replied: "It's illegal to keep as a pet at home *followed up with a smiley emoji, of course,* "Dad continued ", They are kinda cute."

That hit me hard. I kind of recalled the last most "extraordinary" pet our family has ever kept in my teenage years: the Sugar Glider. Being just a high school student at that time, I kind of have the impression that the pet might be illegal. It just didn't look like the other regular domesticated pets, like dogs and cats, which is pretty common in a Malaysia. However, I am quickly hooked by its cuteness and affectionate behaviour towards our family too. It would often squeak loudly in the middle of the night when it's left alone in its cage and jumped, climbed and, of course, crawled all around us when we took it out for "company". We often ended up getting lots of shallow scars on our hands and back after "playing" with it. At one point, Dad was cutting nails for it. Dad then bought one more to keep it accompanied. It seems quite affectionate, and somehow we got another two more from the other relatives. We reared the first one for 4 to 5 years if I am not mistaken, and I still remember how the hair on its forehead got torn off due to "old ages"? At least this was what Dad told me at that time. And I still recalled the sadness in Dad's face when he buried the first sugar glider (which is the only one he got for himself).

Dad has always kept pet fish at home for as long as I can remember as a kid. He is also the one who got me really love animals and the outdoors. He taught me most outdoor activity skills at young ages, like cycling, badminton and swimming, which are all some pretty common and affordable activities in a regular middle-class Malaysian household. Nevertheless, I am l lucky enough to have an athletic dad. *To date, he is still continuing to inspire me by picking up outdoor archery skills every weekend."

Looking back at the conversation with Dad just now, I kind of have much more compassion towards his words compare to the other illegal pet keepers, illegal pet traders or even poachers out there. Well, he might not be harming animal welfare to the same extent or for any similar intentions with theirs. My dad just thought they are cute and hence want to keep them as a pet. However, not gonna deny that the intentions he had is the exact driving force for the exotic pet market in consumerism. Also, I would like to pause for a little disclaimer: Dad has since turned his interest back to keeping fish as a pet after all the sugar gliders were long gone. As he once shared with me, he felt sad to realize that they are actually quite affectionate and need social interaction to keep them healthy. They kind of stop eating after getting depressed from loneliness and suppressing their appetite, which eventually leads to aggressiveness even to their close counterparts. He knows they were not doing well under his "custody". Hence, he has never kept one since then. Guess he kind of learned from the experience.

This just got me thinking if I can be more compassionate towards some of the local community out there, who is directly dependent on wildlife bushmeat or trade for their livelihoods. Or even it's just something that they did, keeping and interacting with wildlife, as they were once live in close proximity in the old ages. I often heard from the last generation folks of how often they encounter wildlife in their living compounds. However, that is not the case anymore when more land is being converted into high rise buildings. These animals simply disappear, either displaced or vanished. As a transition generation that studied and heard about historical story while witnessed the modernization taking place, and soon to be the generation that deciding the future we want to live in, just got me thinking how to be more sensible with any kind of happening exploitation, even to this day. They are often the group, which is framed as the evil of all kind to the negative consequences we are seeing or expecting in the near future. This also got me thinking about how to communicate effectively new management tools and policy framework in shaping shape a better future, in human-wildlife co-existence and natural resources to be exact in this case.

Dad just got me sensible, and I start to think what would happen if I see every old generation doing the status quo as my own parent. This has allowed me to discover another perspective to look at the evil of all time in the case of animal welfare.