If you have read one of my earlier posts, you will know by now that I have been dismissed from all turtle-related projects carried out by the university because the new Project Leader did not want me in her team. Initially, I was very depressed about it because I have been serving the turtle group in the last 5 years, and throughout the years, I have built a really good relationship with the project workers, former volunteers and sponsors.

But I later realized that what the Project Leader did to me was indeed a blessing-in-disguise and I can’t thank her enough :) By dismissing me from the turtle-related projects in the university, she actually gave me the opportunity to be a part of something BIGGER and more challenging.

In the past month, I have been very involved with the Turtle Conservation Centre (TCC), a newly-founded organization dedicated to turtle conservation in Malaysia. I have been setting up and modifying the TCC website (with whatever HTML and CSS knowledge that I have), transferring some blog posts and news articles from the old turtle website to the new TCC site, as well as adding a whole lot of new information about the projects that we are and will be carrying out. It is our hope that the TCC website will eventually be a 1-stop-centre that contains information on the turtles in Malaysia, yes, and that includes the sea turtles, river terrapins and terrestrial tortoises :)

Because the TCC is a new organization, we are pretty much starting from scratch. Which means that we will have to raise funds in order for us to continue with our projects to save the turtles. And if you have ever tried to raise funds for a cause, you will understand the predicament we are in now, LOL. But we believe that help will come our way because we are doing something to help save our turtles, to help save Mother Nature. Plus, we also believe that there is a whole lot of philanthropists out there who would support projects such as ours. Yeah I know, I love my optimism :)

So our first public outreach program is the Adopt-A-Terrapin campaign. We will be releasing 99 captive-raised river terrapins into the Setiu River in Terengganu on Sept 9th (that’s tomorrow), in a “release of life” ceremony dubbed the “Terrapin Independence Day” (TID). This will be the fifth annual TID since 2005, but it will be TCC’s inaugural Terrapin Independence Day.

In conjunction with the auspicious date (9/9/09), we are putting these 99 three-year-old river terrapins up for adoption to raise funds so that we can continue to save these terrapins. Each river terrapin has been equipped with a microchip that allows us to identify them individually. These microchips also enable us to monitor their growth in the river whenever we recapture them.

Each terrapin adoption costs RM 99, or SGD 40, and we will send you information about the terrapin that you have adopted such as its microchip number, weight and measurements.

Would you like to adopt a terrapin and help raise funds for the Turtle Conservation Centre? Drop me a comment or send us an email (cp@turtleconservationcentre.org) if you would like to know more about the Adopt-A-Terrapin campaign :)

Similar Posts:

• Video clip on Terrapin Independence Day 2005 @ YouTube (video credit: C.K. Choo)
• Second Terrapin Independence Day a success (TID 2006)
• Of boats parades and release of 50 terrapins (TID 2007)
• 4th Terrapin Independence Day in Setiu @ Turtle Conservation Centre (TID 2008)