Looking outwards through eyes of love, kindness and compassion ~ we all have it within us to do so!

Each summer our tours are made great by those who travel, some of them, vast distances to join us on an outing. People with their lives to live, all of them enthused by nature and the yearning to see for themselves the whales and dolphins who ply our waterways along with numerous other species throughout the days of our summer. And so it was on August 31st, 2014 that Laetitia and James joined our tour. www.seasmokewhalewatching.com/2014/08/31

It was a great tour with wonderful cetacean sightings and much excitement generated on board and there was little time to hear their story. They were cyclists on a great world tour and had left their cycles in our yard while they were on board our boat and we were fortunate to catch up with them after the tour. How passionate they were, each in their own way and we learned considerably about their cycling venture but it was Laetitia's passion for a cause that was dear to her (and one in which my own interest had been initiated from a random postcard picked up when travelling in Cambodia a few years ago), that fully caught my attention.

The postcard which I still have today and I am holding in my hand while I write this blog has a photo of a Sun Bear, written underneath are the words in large print FREE THE BEARS Cambodia. The postcard also reads: Many Asiatic (Sun and Moon) Bears are placed in tiny cages, badly mistreated and farmed for their bile in horrible conditions. You can stop these barbaric practices in Cambodia & its neighbouring countries and increase the awareness of the plight of Asia's bears simply by mailing this card around the world. Free The Bears Fund www.freethebears.org is a non-profit organization working at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre south of Phnom Penh. Free The Bears Fund is dedicated to protecting, preserving and enriching the lives of bears throughout Asia by rescuing them from hunters, poachers and illegal wildlife traders and providing them with safe sanctuary free of hunger, pain and fear.

Laetitia has cycled some 2,000 km's across Asia for the Bears of Asia www.entreicietla.com raising awareness time and again and while I have been vaguely aware of the bears predicament throughout Asia and other parts of the world, by this timely crossing of paths with Laetitia, the plight of the bears has caught my attention once again but I am now better informed about the horrific situation that humans have put them in. I am including links in the hope that some of you will follow-up and pass on to others as well. Our own awareness is our key into rectifying great injustices being inflicted upon wildlife all around the world. We must always keep in mind that one person can make a difference and that the journey of a 1000 km's, begins with a single step or in Laetitia's case, a single pedal!  To step up to a job that needs doing, begins now, please do whatever you can to help.   www.animalsasia.org

On a cool and wet day here in the Bay I have allowed my writing to take me on a mindful  journey........

My poem 'Caged' is dedicated to every animal (land and sea) that has been taken from the wild and lives now, caged. I cannot imagine or go there in my mind, their number would be shocking if we were ever able to know the count and is ever-increasing as we humans lust after more flesh to eat, more aphrodisiacs and more entertainment! It is a painful and horrifying subject that most people will turn away from or prefer not to read about but in doing so and by not speaking out in their defence, we put at risk even more animals while allowing the profiteering of inhumane practices to continue. My poem skims but lightly the subject.

I hope that some of you will stop passing the buck and stop purchasing frivolous 'more stuff' and be inspired  to put a donation instead into the bucket of a discerning Organization that stands up for a species (wild or otherwise) that you have come to know and love and that the Organization's Mission resonates deep within you. In having not sent the postcard as I had fully intended doing, I am sending it out in today's post (blog).

Caged

Who are they who capture and cage you in their prisons? Those human beings, to what race do they belong? What right do they have to abuse and use you as they do?

They see not the suffering and misery they cause you. Your wild life they steal, and then they commit you to a cage or concrete cell until your last breath is taken.

And worse, for most of you there is starvation, cruelty and lack of space for you to move about in. Forgotten, caged and left alone, often in darkness, in fear you barely live.

Your plight horrifies and disturbs us greatly but one by one we will find and release you, we will not give up on you, we owe you your life back.

We are not of this inhumane race. They look like us but they are not us. Blood lies on their hands, it is your life blood.

We are human-kind and heed your silent suffering. Awakened and now aware, around the world we are uniting and one day we will free you to live wild again.

written by Maureen Towers ~  October 26, 2014

The next time that you come upon an injured, homeless, lost or trapped animal or bird, do not walk away. Step up to the job, it will engage, connect and empower you to what really matters and will forever change your life. Thank you! Maureen