3 posts tagged “animals”

Australia is my home, it is where I grew up and I am glad that this is the land that I live in.  I acknowledge that there was a fantastic indigenous culture here before my ancestors arrived.  I love my heritage and I love the Australian Indigenous culture and I am proud of all Indigenous people’s achievements and despite our past history of ill treatment towards the Australian Indigenous community for which many white Australians are very sorry including myself, I know that this country of mine will continue to move forward for the betterment of all. See are separate entry regarding our treatment of Indigenous Australians.

The country I live in has been called racist, as far as racism in Australia is concerned, the degree of racism really does depend on where you travel in Australia; we have our "red neck" areas (not going to name areas) just like most countries.   Generally I have found the more multi-cultural areas aren't all that racist and most of the people I come across definitely aren't racist to any degree - and I say degree, because as much as we don't want to admit it, we all have some degree of racism within us, even if it is subconsciously.  I think the more educated (formally or self) and the more we allow ourselves to experience other cultures the less racist we generally become. 

It is easy to label Australia as a racist country (due to the actions of some), however we mustn't forget that our society is now very multi-cultural compared to some countries who do not allow much immigration into their country at all, but for some reason we seem to ignore these countries when it comes to the racist debate.  Given how multi-cultural our country is, there is bound to be some racial tensions between some groups and racial tension works both ways, new racial groups can be just as racist towards Australian born Australians as Australian born Australians are to the new racial groups.  Also please ignore the actions of some of our politicians, as I can assure you some of them do not speak for all Australians.

To illustrate how multicultural our population is, this is a list of the top 30 birthplaces (not every ethnic group that is represented in our population just the top 30 birthplaces) of Australians in the 2001 census: Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam, China, Greece, Germany, Philippines, Netherlands, South Africa, Malaysia, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Poland, Yugoslavia, United States of America, Sri Lanka, Croatia, Ireland, Indonesia, Malta, Fiji, Macedonia, FYROM, Korea (South), Singapore, Egypt, Turkey, and Canada.

The following data is derived from the 2001 Australian Census:

·         21.8% of Australians were born overseas and 72.6% were born in Australia.

13.2% of people (2,485,093) were born in non-English speaking countries. This compares to 8.5% who were born in English speaking countries other than Australia.

So I think Australia is doing pretty well as far as immigration is concerned.

Many Australians embrace the cultures that our immigrants bring into Australia.  Just take a stroll down Lygon Street in Melbourne and you will see and enjoy what multi-cultural Melbourne has to offer.

As for Australians being arrogant, yes well there are some arrogant bastards around, no doubt about that.  But I tell you what; most Aussies are not arrogant for a number of reasons.  Firstly we live on this island on the bottom of the world and most people would hardly even know where the hell we are.  I bet most people wouldn't even know the name of our capital city and the only reason some may have heard of our prime minister is because he is a pal of George W Bush and I bet you would still struggle to come up with his name.  So no, I don't think we are that arrogant as we know our place in the world, just an island some where at the bottom of the world.  Another reason we tend not to be arrogant is because Aussies have this thing called, "Tall Poppy Syndrome", if you get too big for your boots we tend to cut you back down to size quick smart - trust me we are experts at it.   Some people may mistake that as arrogance, but that is their opinion and they are welcome to think that about us.  We love to take the piss out of each other too; I think it is a national pass time.

We love nicknames and we love to change people’s names.  I made the wrong assumption of thinking that international bloggers would automatically realise that because I call myself Chezza, people would automatically realise my gender was female and my name was Cheryl, not so it appears.  This altering of names appears to be an Aussie thing.  Here are some examples:

Cheryl - Chezza or Chez

Sharon - Shazza or Shaz

Darren or Darrell - Dazza or Daz

Aaron - Azza

Barry - Bazza or Baz

Warwick - Wozza or Woz

Marion - Mazza or Maz

Australian - Aussie

Angela - Angie

barbeque - Barbie

Elizabeth - Lizzie

John - Johno

Steve - Stevo

Dave - Davo

So despite what some of you may think we are not all a bunch of drongos; just some of us - perhaps even me.

My opinion regarding Steve Irwin. 

Steve was Steve, he was passionate about what he believed in, which was getting the message to the world about wildlife conservation and not just the cuddly cute animals, but also the ones that were frightening to look at and also potentially quite dangerous.  To be honest, I initially think Steve was rather over the top for many Australians, he was a larger than life figure and Australians were not used to such a figure.  But it seemed that the American audience loved him and his antics.  There were times when I would watch his TV shows and think, “Oh Steve you really shouldn’t be doing that” and I remember one time he received a nasty bite to his hand by a sea creature and I thought, “Steve serves yourself right!”  But I grew to like the man because he had passion and he did have the animal’s best interests at heart, despite what some may say.  Yes he did aggravate a few animals along the way, but to my knowledge he never actually physically hurt them.  In my opinion his motives were pure and sometimes the end does justify the means.  Was Steve a superhero? No he was just a human with a passion who had some successes and some failures just like us all.  But at least he stood up for what he believed in and that was conservation. Money from the films that he made was put back into numerous conservation projects and Australia Zoo is a testimony to his life’s work.

Steve Irwin - just a man with an enormous amount of passion with all of the human foibles we are all prone to.

We know what Germaine Greer has said of Steve, but what have others said of Steve Irwin.  I think these may be the opinions we should have been listening to.

Sir David Attenborough apparently praised Irwin for introducing many to the natural world, saying "He taught them how wonderful and exciting it was, he was a born communicator." Taken from

The Australian

Another apparent quote by Sir David Attenborough was in the following extract from the Guardian: The odd thing about Attenborough's career is that, over the course of 50 years, it is hard to think of anyone who has come close to challenging him. He dismisses this as nonsense and mentions, among others, Bill Oddie, Charlotte Uhlenbroek and Simon King, who made Big Cat Diary. Australian he-man Steve Irwin and his imitators make a different kind of wildlife programme altogether and, says Attenborough, "what's wrong with that? An adventure story in which the bit parts are played by animals. And that's fine. It gets people interested."

Another extract from another Guardian article during an interview with Sir David Attenborough: When I ask, for example, about Germaine Greer's verdict on Steve Irwin's death that "the animal world had finally taken its revenge", at first he remarks, "Well, it's a fairly brutal thing to say. And you don't want to, you know, de mortuis nil nisi bonum [speak ill of the dead]. But on the other hand, the point about Steve Irwin is that he was an adventurer and what he told were adventure stories. I mean, he traded on - well, he used danger as a way of attracting people to his story.

"Irwin wasn't talking about natural selection or population dynamics. He was talking about [mimicking an Australian accent], 'Well, what am I doing here then?' “The tone is mild and airy, but the compliment is devastating. ”And you know, that's fine. You know, we've all done that. I mean, when I was a kid I was all for going out there and wrestling with anteaters and so on." …………………

"Well, this is going to sound funny, but actually people don't turn on my programmes to see me," he suggests. "They turn on to see the animals. They watch because they know I don't stand between them and the animals they want to watch. We're back to Steve Irwin again, aren't we? If I watch a Steve Irwin programme it's because I want to see Steve Irwin. That's not what I do."

But when I ask if he found Irwin's popularity depressing, he seems affronted by the very idea. "Oh no. Not at all! We were just interested in different sorts of things. Of course television changes. Everything changes. You don't want to be going around saying, Oh woe is me. You want to be saying, Ah, that's a new opportunity! Let's exploit it that way."

An excerpt from Reuters: International environmentalist David Suzuki told Ten Network television Irwin had brought a much greater respect for animals such as snakes and crocodiles that are normally "demonised".

British naturalist and broadcaster David Bellamy described Irwin as a great performer and an excellent natural historian.

"I could break down crying at this moment, but I will try not to," Bellamy told the BBC. "He did take enormous risks but he knew what he was doing. It was one of the terrible, terrible, terrible accidents and I wish to God it didn't happen," he said.

"He not only captivated Australia and all the visitors there, but he captivated America because he was audacious."

To be balanced Steve did have his detractors in the area of animal conservation.

From smh: But Alastair Fothergill, who produced the Planet Earth series narrated by Attenborough, has criticised Steve Irwin, saying he had pushed his own stardom before any interest in the animal kingdom.

From FoxNews: Separately from the service, marine explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau said that, while he mourned Irwin's death, he disagreed with the Australian's hands-on approach to nature television.

He said he respected Irwin's environmental message, but noted that Irwin would "interfere with nature, jump on animals, grab them, hold them, and have this very, very spectacular, dramatic way of presenting things."

"It sells, it appeals to a lot people, but I think it's very misleading," Cousteau said in Los Angeles. "You don't touch nature, you just look at it."

But I will leave my final words to Jean-Michel’s nephew – Phillippe Cousteau Jr in an interview with CNN shortly after Steve’s death.

"Much of life can never be explained but only witnessed."

(AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise, in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, officials said.

The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down the Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean, then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26th 2004 before wildlife rangers rescued him.

"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP.

"After it was swept and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added. "The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it follows its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," he explained.

This is a real story that shows that our differences don't matter much when we need the comfort of another. We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures of God. Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together.