The Adventures of a Darlin' & her Dog

[thedarlinandthedog]

The disappearance of the Tapirs in Costa Rica

The Tapir is an interesting animal, looking as if a pig and an elephant had a baby though this is not the case. They are very closely related to horses and rhinoceros. Their small elephant like trunk helps them grip branches and clear the leaves off to eat, ingesting the seeds from fruits and plants. Then during the mornings and evenings they walk the path of other Tapirs and defecate along them, leaving seeds to spread more vegetation. Tapirs are ever so important to the culture and life in Costa Rica, though it wasn’t always seen this way.

In the month of October in the year 1955, a flood completely devastated Costa Rica. The water rose while the rain poured ever so steadily among the homes, and land of Baru. People were devastated from the flood and many were not able to receive medical care for weeks until the red cross showed up. Now as the people had suffered so had the animals and the nature. Animals were bombarded by this sudden flood and pumas, alpacas, and tapirs washed up along the shore.

One of the men that went through this flood was Manuel Angel, he endured the flood for weeks to come, along with his pregnant wife Blanca, and their two children. He was among the first to come across a dead tapir along the shoreline though he thought nothing of it. His wife received medical care for her infected foot and delivered a healthy baby months later.

Manuel Angel was a hunter, he shot anything that moved among the brush in the jungle weather it be a jaguar, or somebody’s pet. It didn’t matter back then. Two years later after the flood, in 1975 he shot and killed the last tapir. At the time he thought nothing of it, the last one he had seen was no different than the first. Years later he admitted that he probably should have let it live, yet he showed no remorse with what he had done.

In today’s Costa Rica people's attitudes towards the situation have changed considerably. People who have seen the jaguars, and tapirs that have once roamed the land have disappeared before their very eyes. Finally people are beginning to see the importance of these animals. Not just for the ecosystem but also for their community.

Costa Rica is among one of the most biodiverse places in the world, this draws people to come from far and wide to visit these many wonders. People come looking to gaze upon the most unique birds, to swim with the sea turtles, and experience some of nature’s wonders. In the year 1990 ASANA standing for (Asociación Amigos de la Naturaleza del Pacífico Central y Sur) have been teaching the youth about the natural environment. This allows the children of today to see the very importance of where they are living, and how they can help protect it.

In the book Where Tapirs and Jaguars once Roamed by Jack Ewing, he speaks of a man who had once threatened him with a machete for taking his hunting dog. Yet, the son of that man drives a taxi bringing people to see all the different and unique birds of Costa Rica. He spoke to Jack Ewing and said “Years ago when you and my dad were having problems, I couldn’t understand why you didn’t want the people to kill the animals, but now I understand. Most of the people who ride my taxi want to see our birds and animals. If we lose the rainforest and the wildlife we lose our way of making a living. My dad will never understand, but I sure do.”

Some locals still follow the mindset of this boy’s father, not really understanding the reasons why we shouldn’t kill the wildlife. The fact that everything they once knew may disappear is not concerning to them. The younger generation that is growing up understands what will happen to Costa Rica is we don’t care. There are many conservation and natural protection associations in Costa Rica that are helping to save and protect the wildlife. ASANA being one of them. Because if the people in Costa Rica are to lose their wildlife, they are to lose everything.

The Tapir still inhabits Costa Rica but only in natural preserves where they can be watched very closely. Due to the hunting of them they are gone from roaming around free and wild. Though even on the natural preserves they are close to extinction there are only an estimated 6,000 left in the wild. People still hunt them, and through it is very illegal the law is rarely enforced. They have no other natural predators except for deforestation, and humans. They are on the brink of extinction if we don’t do something about this soon the animal that seems to only run in our imagination, will become a part of our imagination.

[thedarlinandthedog]

First Blog Entry

“The Darlin’ & The Dog”

“It seems to me that the good lord in his infinite wisdom gave us three things to make life bearable- hope, jokes, and dogs. But the greatest of these was dogs.”

― Robyn Davidson

When I was a little girl, all I had dreamt of was having a dog. Each year for my birthday, I had asked for one. I had even bought a book listing all the dog breeds, and would read it nightly, like it was my personal holy bible. Well I couldn’t exactly read yet, but I would look at the pictures and imagine the perfect dog for me. Then, two days before my fifth birthday, my mom came home with something moving around in her jacket. At first, I thought it was a toy animal moving, then a little head popped out of her jacket. That was the first time I met Scooby, my lifelong soulmate. At the time, I slept downstairs all by myself, and with Scooby there, it was like our own little life full of everything we wanted.

As I grew older, Scooby grew with me, he made me smile, as he lay in bed snuggling up on cold nights. Around the age of nine, after a nasty seizure, Scooby was diagnosed with Cancer, as well as Diabetes. We had to administer insulin shots twice a day, we also made special homemade food for his condition. He was however notorious for getting into the trash, and now with his condition, whenever he would partake in his fun of trash diving, it was always followed by the seizures. I remember one night in particular, where I sat on the bathroom floor covered in feces, vomit, and urine, stroking his head all night, going through one seizure after another for hours, until he had finally fell asleep. That was the night I knew my time with him was limited, and I would make sure I would comfort and care for him, as much as he needed.

Another night, while the rain was falling gently outside my window, we listened to our song, “Heartbeats” by Jose Gonzalez. That was the night I dreamed of what I wanted us to do before he passed. I wanted to go to a place where there were no lights, a place where we could see the stars. I could see us walking over the plains of cracked desert ground, he was walking beside me, and the stars were shining brightly above us. We never got a chance to see that together while he was on earth with me. Scooby passed two days before my fifteenth birthday, exactly the day I met him. Scooby’s ashes reside in Joshua Tree, in the cracked desert ground, above the stars that shine bright every night. Although he is gone, I can still feel him with me in every adventure I go on, in every choice I make, Scooby is with me.

As a human, when we choose a dog as our pet, we know that one day their life will end. Yet, we still devote our whole heart to them, because they give us unconditional love and support like no other. When they pass, they take a part of our heart with them, to remember us by. In exchange, they give us a part of their heart, so we may always remember the joy and comfort they provided their human companions in their short time here.. Someone once said, that dogs have a shorter life on earth than humans, because they already know how to exist in happiness, and that they are on earth to teach us how to live in our own happiness. Scooby brought that to me, he was my first love, and will always hold a special place in my heart. Everyone should have that special pet that they can exchange a piece of their heart with, wouldn't you agree?