Video of the last female giant soft shell turtle.

[snakehandler]

the last female giant soft shell in China.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/12/05/world/asia/choking_on_growth_6.html#story2">http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007 ... tml#story2</a><!-- m -->

 

[ZEKE]

wow that is an awesome turtle.

at least they are trying to keep her alive and breed her and not making a big bowl of soup instead.

 

[DZLife]

I hope they are succesful in breeding her...I'm tired of hearing about all these wondrous species of animals going extinct at the hands of us humans.

 

[nat]

wow she's really beautiful.

 

[gebris353]

Cant believe they had to use bullet proof glass cause people may want to kill it. She is really beautiful, I liked the bath part. :-D

 

[shiftylarry]

People probably think that the last giant softshell in the world would make you live even longer than those other turtles they killed.

I wonder how the markets go about selling that notion. "Hey you there! Buy this turtle for soup, it'll make you live forever. If you don't, your welcome to come and get your money back."

 

[DZLife]

Yeah, but ya can't blame them for being careful. There are some "off" people out there.

 

[ColdThirst]

Thats what I just said, the video proved my point, China does not give a crap and thats what happens, I don't see why their whining about it.

 

[COWHER]

ok maybe i should wait five minutes before posting but wth ..... Why the H3ll is China so F-ing retarded!!!! these people have the most moronic ideas "Hey this turtle live long time let us kill it and eat it because it will make me live long time to!!!" "and wile we at it lets eat some animal dong because me sooo little!" i just saw a show on how they have a spirit man to take away bad luck so they make this guy run through the streets naked and then they beat him within a hair of death then make him bury a lump of dough and that makes every thing "stay in balance and lucky" WTF!!!!!!

 

[nat]

to play devils advocate and perhaps answer some questions from a socio - economic standpoint, many people (and in China that means 10's of millions) are below the povery line and do not have access to a decent education and / or modern medicine. Most medicinal practictioners use chinese medicine (which is recognized in the west as having some benefits!) Chinese religion also plays a lot of a role as there is a strong notion of balancing energies within the body to keep it healthy.

so you have a situation where people are on or below the poverty line and not aware of western medicine due to a lack of basic biology education. If you are in that state and your children or yourself get sick, you are going to seek whatever advice you can find. If a doctor tells you to feed your child a piece of an animal -endangered or not- to save his or her life you are going to do it. Its the same reason why AIDS has become the epidemic it has in Africa because there is conflicts between traditional african beliefs and the realities of biology (which of course, if you are not educated, will not be informed about).

The other issue is that meat has become a status symbol in many societies. Meat is not traditionally a commonly consumed food item and usually can only be afforded in small quantities. If you can afford meat on a regular basis, it is a status symbol for wealth. So cultureally, there is a demand for people to be able to display their wealth through their dishes. Tiger penis is a huge status symbol of how much wealth you have... and of course as in any market... if there is a demand for it, people will fufill that demand no matter what the costs (especially if they are below the poverty line... )

So its not just an issue of people choosing to be ignorant... in some cases I think that is the case... I think a wealthy chinese business man knows that tiger is rare... that's why they want to be able to order it... because it is known to be so rare. However, I don't want to so easily blame the general public of china. Who I blame is their government and their lack of concern for enviornmental and public health while they race to become the next economic super power.

 

[shiftylarry]

The other issue is that meat has become a status symbol in many societies. Meat is not traditionally a commonly consumed food item and usually can only be afforded in small quantities.

That's why Ctenosaura Melanosterna is endangered. People want to eat meat. I think the United States is largely responsible for this meat hungry mentality. People eat so many burgers than they have to be crane lifted from their homes. In fairness to China, it's the human race that is so gluttonous, not one specific place.

 

[nat]

The other issue is that meat has become a status symbol in many societies. Meat is not traditionally a commonly consumed food item and usually can only be afforded in small quantities.

That's why Ctenosaura Melanosterna is endangered. People want to eat meat. I think the United States is largely responsible for this meat hungry mentality. People eat so many burgers than they have to be crane lifted from their homes. In fairness to China, it's the human race that is so gluttonous, not one specific place.

that's very true. The western lifestyle is another symbol of wealth to the rest of the world. Due to a more western lifestyle being adopted all over the world, meat production and demand is thought to expand by at least 20% in the next decade. I don't know how the planet is going to handle it personally as we are already so stretched in resources with the current meat production methods. We are due for an overhaul.

 

[shiftylarry]

To answer your question, the planet can't handle eat. Think of all the energy that goes into producing a mature cow. It's a lot of grain. Meat has become deeply ingrained in American tradition. Tradition is something that you can't fight easily. It's the same reason people still drive large trucks amidst an oil crisis. It's tradition. No one wants to be told to reinvent themselves.

 

[olympus]

That's ashame people won't realize what they are doing until it's too late...

 

[KoreanDeathKid]

coming from a country where China is only less then a couple thousand miles away, I've heard many horror stories about the animals that are in China, I've seen live dogs stuck in cages as food for less than $50 per pound (there is nothing left of these poor animals), snakes, frogs, turtles, salmanders, lizards, monkeys, crocodiles, etc etc etc etc, the list never ends
China is just a retarted country that just does not understand that we live in a world with things that came much before us

 

[shiftylarry]

Don't hate China, hate stupid people. It's the same reason why it's wrong to hate all black people because of one media portrayal. True, there is a different mentality in China, but if we were removed from America (or where ever you happen to live) and subjected to the same stimuli, whose to say you (I) wouldn't commit the same atrocities? Humans are all the same. It's our environment and the available information that shapes us.

 

[nat]

I couldn't agree more! Before anyone points a finger at another country or person, I think it important to be critical of ourselves... we in North America are the largest produces or waste and the largest consumer of resources overall, so I don't think it particulary fair to critisize anybody else. There are things each of us could do to cut back and reduce, we are all guilty of it, not just someone off in a foreign country.

 

[Mvskokee]

man that sucks

 

[DZLife]

I couldn't agree more! Before anyone points a finger at another country or person, I think it important to be critical of ourselves... we in North America are the largest produces or waste and the largest consumer of resources overall, so I don't think it particulary fair to critisize anybody else. There are things each of us could do to cut back and reduce, we are all guilty of it, not just someone off in a foreign country.

It frustrates me when someone makes the mistake of directing hate towards a whole race, instead of the specific stupid people making the "mistakes." Also, there are people doing very similar things to the aforementioned heinous act in almost every single country on earth, if not every country (especially the US). We have killed off HUGE numbers of animals due to our selfish, oblivious/ignorant ways.

 

[snakehandler]

But you could say that China as a whole doesn't do much to protect its wildlife or to stop wildlife trade in it's country.
Which is a shame.