11th Hour: My Calling

Another moment passes by in my life,
and yet another chapter comes to a close. Yesterday was the last day of work for me at the Singapore Zoo. I really wanted to spend my 21st birthday working as it would be symbolic to me but in the end... my cough ended up getting the better of me. So as one door closes, another opens, but before I step back into the life of a student... I just want to take one final glance at the things I've learnt.

Before I worked at the Zoo, Ive always believed Humans to be a superior species in the animal kingdom. Each animal has a part of God's gift in themm, an adaption engineered and constructed specifically for them to survive in their unique environment. Take a little glance around and you'll see it. From the amazing wings on the butterflies to the powerful lungs of the blue whale, each animal has their gift. God's gift to man was his amazing mastery over mental thought processes and the ability to communicate with one another. It was because we have had these two key adaptations that we have colonised the four corners of the globe. In essence, we are different from the other animals as we are able to control our own fates.

So when I started working at the Singapore Zoo, as with most visitors, I became mesmerised with the close contact I have had with 'the other species'. The first thought that occupied my mind was how similar these animals were to us. I recall a very special encounter (friends at the zoo may know who I am talking about):
It was raining, and the zookeepers were mobilised to collect all the Free-ranging orangutans in the trees. Most of them responded quickly and came down to be brought to their indoor dens. One youngster, Merlin was day-dreaming by himself and threw a fit when he found out he was the only one left. In the end, the keepers, being at the edge of their patience sent chomel (his surrogate sis/mom) up to drag him back down, but not after a few good smacks to reprimand him.

It was totally amazing how human-like some animals can be. But as my time in the Zoo continued... I got to see more and more of the animals I work with. It was not before long that I came to a revelation:

Animals are not really like Humans.Its the reverse in reality. It is Humans who are more like animals. In fact, humans are animals not matter civilised we claim to be.

I mean this in anything but a derogative manner. Its quite the oppositve. I've said in my previous post how animals go to work in very much the same way we do. The more animals you observe... the more you realise that we are not unique and superior in any way. In fact, the way we squabble among ourselves, hunger and crave for certain things is exactly the same behavious that ALL animals exhibit.

The main drive I had for joining the zoo is not only my passion for animals but the driving need in me to pass on the conservation message to the general public. My time here reinforced my calling: Conservation of the planet we live on.

We are very much similar to the animals we live with. For some reason, perhaps because of our cultural pride, Man have elevated himself into a different categorisation from the rest of the planet. But this is ludicrious, we are part of the planet, not separate, not superior. We share the same planet as minute posion-arrow frog and the gargantuan African Savanna Elephant. Sadly, we multiply and enjoy our existence at the opportunity cost of our neighbours. We are bringing on the onslaught of the next era of mass extinction.

Extinction is a normal part of life. 99.9999%( four decimals) of all life that ever existed on this planet have become extinct. That is roughly... 4-to 5 species per century. But our growth on this planet is speeding up this process to an unnatural rate. In the past 500 years... biologist have identifed at least 5416 extinct species.

We should stop debating on the ethics or the 'percieved reality' of our impact. The evidence is staggering. The sad thing is, we are very much linked to all these advents. We are just another animal afterall. The more we destroy and plunder our home planet the more we are driving ourselves into a fatal corner. Its not the Planet that we must save. It's us. Ironically. life on this planet will carry on.

No matter how much we devastate and defile this planet from its natural state, ecology will find a way as it always had for the past 4 billion years. Earth has all the time in the world for reconfiguration, but we don't. This is the 11th hour of us Humans to choose how we want to live. To prolong our time on this planet or to be marked down in God's annual as a species who brought forth the Holocene mass extinction and ultimately their own demise?

This is the calling in my life that I have grown to accept. To dedicate my life to inform the general public of the impact that we are bringing forth and that WE have the power to change the course of history.

We are like animals because we are the same. We share the same food, the same air, the same water.... the same home we call Earth.

ps: The photo on top is my last working session with these beautiful orangutans. On the extreme left is Chomel who I mentioned earlier. The reason for my choice of this photo is because Sumatran Orangutans such as Chomel WILL become extinct in the wild even before I graduate from College. Let this be a photograph be a long-lasting reminder for my calling.