Laws Are For Enforcing

And High Court judges are for paying off, as is apparent in the most recent case of your-government-is-so-awesome-it-ignores-its-own-rules.


Guess what? Our favorite, most notorious wildlife trafficker in the world is on the loose again. Anson Wong, congratulations.  Have fun destroying the lives of a couple thousand more wild animals.


Thank you, ever honorable judge Low Hop Bing. 


So, y'all know that in 2010, our smartiepants trafficker decided it'd be great to shove 95 protected snakes in plastic bags in his luggage and take a holiday to Indonesia. And his bag fell open and there were snakes everywhere and no one noticed the snakes were there until this happened (good airport security, huh?). 


Anyways, he was caught and convicted, for a minimum of five years I believe. And on February 22, court of appeal judge Loh decided this trafficking thing was bogus and that he should serve 17.5 months for what he did.


Coincidentally, Wong had just reached the 17.5 month mark in his prison visit. 


Wonder what the judges reason was for lowering the sentence? "It also erroneously considered irrelevant factors like that the 95 snakes were kept in a small bag and were being tortured."


Irrelevant? Really? What kind of callous, hard-hearted imbecile does it take to believe that this was not cruelty? What exactly do you consider torture, then, Mr. Loh? Waterboarding? What do you consider it then? Some good ol' jolly fun for these snakes? Maybe you'd like me to shove you in a plastic bag in my luggage next time I fly. 


I'd rather enjoy it, since you wouldn't be able to say anything about it. It's not torture, mistreatment, cruelty, or any of that sort of irrelevant stuff. Nope. I won't even erroneously consider it. I might even take the time to make the plastic bag airtight. I'm sure you'd enjoy that, as you seem to think the snakes did (especially the ones that DIED#$@#$!![I have no idea what that spelt, but it looks mean and nasty so I'll roll with it. I'm not actually swearing, k?]).


(insert swear word of choice that's pretty offensive but not too offensive since I don't like those kinds of words all that much to conclude here)

Asia is the Answer. Surprise.

"As Asia grows wealthier, so, too, the trade in wildlife."

Never have I heard truer words written in an article.

I don't know about you, but I find something very disturbing about the statistics that have just been released about this last year. All I hear on the TV is Asian growth this, Asian business model that, the success of Asian markets. All I see with my eyes? Wildlife, pushed to the brink. Wildlife, with nowhere to go. Wildlife, dying for no other reason but someone's entertainment, someone's placebo. Should their lives really be thrown away so carelessly?

According to the article, in 2001, only 6 rhinos lost their lives to poachers. In 2011, 400 were brutally murdered for their horns. The cartilage horns that happen to grow on their noses appear to be a death sentence. But you know what's worse? These are only official numbers. Think about how many rhinos that have been killed that we just don't know about.

I have to say, my soft spot for rhinos has grown. You look at them from far away and just think, wow. How impressive. How regal. But today I spent about half an hour with the sweetest rhinos in the world. And honestly, it just hurts to think that so many of them are dying. I can't imagine it. They aren't malicious; they're scared. I don't understand how a person so blatantly invade an animal's personal space, then turn around and blame the animal when something goes wrong.

Human lives matter, sure. But what about everyone elses' lives? I talked to someone about whether wildlife trafficking and the illegal wildlife trade bothers them... and all she could say was that she'd be more concerned if people were being hurt. BUT PEOPLE ARE THE ONES DOING THE DAMAGE!!

I dare her to go up to those rhinos I saw today, with the sweet eyes and the trusting attitudes, and tell them she was going to kill them. The rhinos that nuzzled my hand, and the ones that rolled over in the mud and looked just like any cat or dog that wanted a belly rub.

Tell them that their lives mean nothing. Tell them that you don't care. Don't tell me.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Screw giving people the benefit of the doubt. Nine out of ten times the person is guilty of what they are accused!

(Note: this is an observation, not a statistic. Also, in political circumstances it more like five to five because half the time they're just trying to get rid of the opposition.)

We were walking through Bangkok airport and at the baggage claim the tv has a slide with a slow loris saying 'Stop Wildlife Trafficking' or something along those lines. And it made me think. (No seriously, I do that.)

I mean, how often do you think someone who traffics wildlife actually gets caught? Looking around, even in the middle of the night, I could see several people who looked suspicious. Of course, you can't just go all Homeland Security on them without warrant in a foreign country. So that day, through that airport, I bet hundreds of animals were tortured in bags everywhere.

And I mean, they threaten you, they really do. 'You will be caught.' 'Fines of up to -insert number here-!' 'Jail time.' Yeah right. They made a big deal out of it when Wong served 6 months. That's it! Of course I wonder why after all these years and all this awareness, we still can't control the Illegal Wildlife Trade. But then I remember we can't even get our economies or governments in order because we're all so in love with buying cheap low quality goods of China and these ghostly investors who have priority over everyone else.

After that, I just think about how screwed all the normal people and animals are.