Inside the Cage

the twins

I am an animal lover and sometimes I've gone too far in expressing my fondness. I have three wonderful dogs, off the chain and off the cage. They live in the house casually as the member of the family. I also love water creatures too. I have tried to take care of a couple of turtles named Chaplin and Merlin. Merlin was gone and lost and never been found, but I took care of Chaplin for a year. Now she is a royal member of Sanata Dharma University's campus pond. I released her there because I believed she would be happier in a pond than in my tiny fish tank. I have had so many fish, and now I am taking care of a couple of gold fish named Obladi and Oblada.

I got Obladi and Oblada from my two friends, Acen and Pritha. I am the third hand to have them. I named them so because I see their life moving from one owner to the other, from one fish tank to another, but life goes on! Wa!

I don't want to turn my friends down, so I promise to keep the fish's life goes on. I spent a week salary as an English instructor today to give them the fish tank they deserve.

In the journey to get the best fish tank, I went to PASTY, a market for animals and plants in my town, to get the best price for the things I need. There I encounter many little shops and kiosks for fish, birds, lizards, insects, dogs, cats, and many more. However, my little animal lover soul does not have the heart to see these wonderful creatures inside the cage.

at first I was looking for a fish tank in the fish shops

I was amazed with these healthy goldfish

and these turtles

before I was startled with this unlucky owl. Sleeping in a cage, with noisy surroundings

send letters for Harry Potter?

This beautiful owl stands on a cage with a chain on his legs

a weasel. trapped from the wild, packed, and sold

another couple of owl. trying to sleep inside a dirty cage and noisy surroundings. do they miss a hole in a tree trunk in the woods?

hamsters

some birds are located in a giant cage in the center of the market. but some are pushed into narrow cages to sell

whole white hen

wonderfully blue birds. they worth millions and millions of rupiahs each

these birds supposed to be in paradise, don't you agree?

the seller casually says that the colorful birds worth a million rupiahs each

an old bird in the giant cage

rare crested chickens

if I had the wings of a dove?

more money for the beauty

painted by God in bright yellow and green

why oh why they have to paint the shell???

pitik cemani, the mystically black chicken, with black body, black feathers, black beak, black eyes, black crest, black bones, black blood

the black crow. nesting on the ground.

guinea pigs

the cages for puppies

this puppy is sick and needs treatment. he/she has rashes all over his/her skin. but the seller just put her in a cage and put the cage at the back of the shop, so it will not be exposed to the customers. this puppy is bigger that the others, and seems like no one wants her/him. The seller didn't even care to clean her dung in the bottom of the cage.

 
The sad life of these creatures are just more money to the sellers. However, we have to remember that these unloving animal merchants exist because THERE ARE customers. Therefore to cut the circle of the unethical trade of these animals, we can do the simplest thing: DO NOT BUY pets from these sellers. We have to stop giving financial advantages to unethical merchants. We also have to share the ideas, so that more people will be aware of this saddening situation.

When we buy pets, we are not only purchasing some living organism. Instead, we are committed to take care and to love a life, a life in a form that is different from ours. A life with simpler feeling and simpler logic. A life that will be depend on you in its continuity. A life whose simple mindset will make it be bound to love you as the owner, as the friend, and as the family.

I walked out of the market. I bought my fish tank in the other place.