How is Chokey now?

Remember Chokey? He is the handsome orangutan my daughter fell in love with. Actually, everyone who sees him adores him. I love him too. Knowing him has been an eye opening experience and most educational about how fragile life is for the wild in Malaysia and around the world. Even convicted prisoners who are kept in jail are served their rights and privileges. But many innocent animals caged up are at our mercy. Many have criticized zoos around the world for some of the terrible living conditions and abuses. But truly, the blame is on all of us. The animals have lost their habitats, the human greed is ravaging the earth and exactly how can we stop this massacre. That is exactly what is happening. So, what can everyone do? We always read and hear that everything has to start with “ME”! Yes, me! I educate my children and in the process discovering so many new things myself. I learnt and discovered a lot of things I never knew before. I thought I was teaching my children.... I was actually learning. And learning through the eyes of my children has been as real as can be.... so pure and honest about how they truly feel about life and all things living in it.

So, back to Chokey, our darling. We don’t get to see him as we use to. He is older and bigger now and for the safety of all parties, he is in his little cage..... I mean really little. This photo, I took a few months back, says it all. The enclosure is about five feet by 10 feet wide, or narrow should I say. You don’t get to see him, not even his shadow if you visit the Zoo Negara because he is not in the exhibit area but a holding cage because there aren't enough funds to build exhibit enclosures for all the animals and there are many many more animals caged up in these small cages. Zoo Negara needs public support (there are some really good people working there) and kind donations from the public would really help.We also need serious commitment from government heads if we want to be a nation of caring and loving people and be guardians of this beautiful earth and all its creatures.

Just a friendly reminder...... Reduce, Reuse, Recycle ..... Rethink!

-Rossiti Aishah Rashidi-

My Greens

I enjoy gardening and I have planted four angle beans along some of my fences and it has been very rewarding. Nowadays, I get healthy organic beans from my own garden. I also have lots of screw pine, kafir lime, calamansi (limau kasturi), cekur, daun kaduk, yam in pots, banana trees, papaya, mango and a cashew tree bearing beautiful fruits. So, imagine how much I’ve saved and enjoyed.... some things money just can’t buy. Because of all the trees I’ve planted, I get beautiful chirping feathery visitors in my garden everyday.... heavenly! Kingfishers, wrens, doves are regulars in my garden. They also visit to splish splash in the bowls of water I lay for them in my backyard.








-Rossiti Aishah Rashidi-

Taman Negeri Selangor (Selangor State Park)

http://trees.org.my

Treat Every Environment Special Sdn Bhd. (TrEES) is a local non-profit environment organisation established in February 1995. With over thirteen years of experience working on environmental issues, TrEES believes in engaging diverse sectors of Malaysian society, at both the local and national level, to work together in conserving the environment.

'The project towards the establishment of Taman Negeri Selangor (Selangor State Park)' was an initiative to protect the State's forests and water supply and was jointly funded by TrEES and the Selangor State Government. The project was a result of TrEES lobbying the State Government, together with the community, for more than 10 years.

In this innovative approach to the project, TrEES and the Town and Country Planning Department of Selangor as project facilitators engaged over 30 different stakeholders including government departments and NGOs, to work together to make the park a reality.

The park is the source of 98% of Selangor's, KL's & Putrajaya's water supply and is crucial to Selangor maintaining its self-sufficiency in vital natural resources.

In August 2005, the Selangor State Government, together with the Deputy Prime Minister (who is now our Prime Minister), officially declared 107,000 hectares of the study area for gazettement as Taman Warisan Selangor. In 2007, over 91,000 hectares was gazetted as 'State Park'. TrEES is a member of the Technical Committee for the park and continues to lobby for the remaining areas to be gazetted.