Tuesday, June 11, 2024
A staple among French delicacies, which was banned in 1999 but is still available in some restaurants, the ortolan is this little bird that is tortured before consumption. They were made a protected specie because demand for them was too great and they were becoming almost extinct. They are kept in the dark, or even blinded, during which time they are force-fed with either grapes or millet, until they double in size. Then they are drowned in a container of cognac and roasted and eaten! They are eaten whole, feet first, with only the head not consumed, usually. The customer covers his or her head with a napkin, either to keep the aroma trapped, or, it is said, to hide from God, for the shame and decadence of the act. What a ting!
I was reminded of this because I was watching an interview with Aaron Juan, executive director of a conservation habitat. He was describing the fires in the Tapir Mountain Reserve, and how he witnessed animals and birds being burned to death. It was all so sad, the way those fires started and the mostly inadequate response. I do not blame anyone for that; I think we are stretched too thin financially, to be able to grapple with every emergency. I’m not giving the government a pass; I’m just saying we don’t have the resources to combat the amount of fires that were raging at the same time. I’m surprised that Guatemala did not send the help we so desperately needed, since they profit more from that area than we do!
I didn’t realize that our farmers could farm in that area, and that their recklessness was the major cause of the catastrophe that was so deadly, both for the forest and for the birds and animals to which Mr. Juan referred. As we are always reactive in Belize, instead of having the foresight to prevent such tragedies, maybe new rules will be put in place, if they haven’t already done so.
Forest fires are raging all over the world. For weeks last summer we couldn’t see the sun in Chicago because of the smoke and haze from Canadian fires! California and Arizona, and Spain and Australia and many other countries have experienced uncontrollable fires. Ours were on a much smaller scale, but for a country our size, it was a big deal!
Maybe more public service messages might help, along with workshops on protecting our natural resources, our national forests and streams and rivers, our water supply!
Maybe we should be more aware, more careful and responsible when we are in these very vulnerable areas. We cannot control Mother Nature, but we can at least control some of the damage she endures every day, especially during the dry season.
In San Pedro and many other parts of Belize many years ago, the little mermaid was a very enjoyable food source, a delicacy, like the ortolan. But the manatee is also now protected from those impulses that are sometimes hard to control, but seem to have been tempered by laws and common sense.
Our little Eden, our Patagonia, our Jewel, has to be protected at all cost. From natural disasters, which are mostly unpreventable, and “against the envy of less happier lands!”
Glen