You may want to read the first and second announcements for an idea of how Terrapin Independence Day was to be celebrated.
The opening ceremony started about 30 minutes late due to some unforeseen circumstances, but we were glad that most of our invitees were present — the Head Master of SK Mangkok, the teachers and students, the egg collectors, one of our sponsors and the Director of State Department of Wildlife and National Parks.
After the short opening ceremony and an informational talk on the river terrapins, we proceeded by awarding food hampers to egg collectors who have willingly sold us the eggs they collected during the terrapin nesting season. Pak Cik Rani (pic below) and his brother are hired whenever we needed to do some trapping or tracking work in the river. His wife was hired during the terrapin nesting season to buy as many eggs as possible from the other egg collectors in the village and then incubate the eggs.
We had something very special this year — we had a boat parade! We provided each participant a Malaysian flag and they were encouraged to decorate their own boats with other natural resources. The most original and creative boat wins :)
Upon arrival at the release site, Tebing Pasir Pak Lah Teh, my colleagues did some final measurements of the terrapins that were to be released, while our guests entertained themselves. We distributed marking schemes to our judges and while waiting for the terrapins to be ready for release, our judges evaluated the decorated boats. My other colleague also gave a short briefing to our invited dignitaries on how to hold the terrapins without being scratched.
When they were ready, the terrapins were released! The first round of release was of course, done by the VIPs (and media). Then it was our turn (from the university). My terrapin went into the river very quickly :)
There you go!
You may view some pictures in my Flickr account.
The story appeared in the papers two days ago — Freedom for 50 terrapins, 21 September 2007 (also a picture of the winner of the boat parade and how he won the judges over).
Merdeka ! :tongue:
Wait wait wait, the terrapin with a flag on it, did it get into the river with the flag? It is dangerous! :down:
Erm… Yeah, you put the flag… That will attract predators ler. =_=
flags won’t attract predators la. movements do.
:) anyway great to see environmental saving efforts.
wish I was there.
Wayne & Alvin: Yeah, we DID remove the flag (and reuse it) before the terrapin went into the river. In fact, this was the third time we used the same flag :)
Goldfries: You were right. The flag would not attract predators but it would restrict the movements of the terrapin. The flag could get the terrapin caught among mangroves roots.