For the “gorgeous”creature that won his admiration was not a Miss Universe, or something like that, but a slithering and cold-blooded desert snake baring its fangs.
To the late Steve, every creepy crawly was either beautiful or gorgeous, whether it was a tame grass snake, a slimy frog with large, protruding red eyes or a Komodo dragon with its mouth dripping with rotting meat.
Many suspect that he used a different dictionary. Or maybe ours was already outdated and had to be replaced with a more eco-friendly one?
On the other hand, Steve had his fans and there were thousands who agreed with him whole-heartedly.
Our perception of and relationship with animals are very much defined by our culture. What is a pet to you is food to others and what is yucky to you is gorgeous to some. Many people can’t stand dogs licking their ankles, yet there are million of dog lovers. Some abhor cats touching them, yet others have a dozen running around their homes.
If you see it as a pet, it is cute and cuddly. But if you it and can’t stand the sight of it, it becomes a pest. In the West, people often keep pets especially dogs. Every dog has a name that gives it some sort of a personality.
It becomes a member of the family; eating, sleeping and travelling together.
Others keep pets like cats, birds, gerbils and gold fish. The more adventurous will go for a crocodile, tiger or snake, and once a while, they will take their “pets” for a walk, putting the whole neighbourhood on red alert.
Children are encouraged to keep pets as psychologists believe that besides giving them good company, the rearing of pets fosters a loving and caring spirit, especially in small families with just one or two kids.
Keeping pets is also good for old people who stay alone as they will have someone to relate to. In other words, if they want to nag, they have a pet which would listen and agree with whatever they are complaining about whole-heartedly.
Some people value their pets so much that they will take them to veterinarians when the pets are sick, send them to animal hotel when the family goes on long holiday and even give them a funeral service and a proper burial when the pets die.
In most part of Asia, however, animals are kept usually for functional purposes and very seldom for sentimental reasons. A dog, regardless of its breed, must be able to guard, a horse must be able to run and, well, an arowana must be able to bring good fortune.Otherwise, they must be tasty on the dining table.
We do give names to our dogs. In the past, Ah Choy (Good Fortune) was a common name for dogs before all those trendy names were introduced.
I for one like the name Ah Choy even though I did not get to give any of my dogs that name. I like to visualize myself standing at the gate and shouting at the top of my voice: “Ah Choy, come home!”
Wow! Just imagine all the good fortune that comes rolling into my house following that yapping dog. Fantastic, isn’t it?
Malaysians seem to have a much smaller selection of pets. Most of their pets are good to look at, good to touch and good to cuddle.
Of course, there are many, especially among the Chinese, who spend thousands and thousands of ringgit on feng shui fish such as koi and arowana. But that is a different story altogether.
The closest any of my family member ever got to becoming a Steve Irwin was my second son who is the only guy in the family who can handle frogs, lizards and snakes.
He once caught a small snake that unfortunately, or fortunately, died on the way home.
For practical reasons he stuffed it in his pocket. Arriving home, he fished it out and showed it excitedly to the maid. She almost fainted. He couldn’t understand why.
He proceeded to show it to his mother. She screamed and ran out of the house. Some of our neighbours came out ready to help, thinking that there was a fire.
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