SUPERSTITION KILLED THE T
Throughout the 25 years of her life, Om Sin — a sea turtle from Chon Buri — was a symbol of luck and longevity to people who threw coins into her concrete pond believing that doing so would bring them prosperity. Little did she know that it would bring bad luck upon herself.
Om Sin died in March last year after which condolences poured in from all around the world. International media — such as BBC, CNN, Reuters, National Geographic, The New York Times and The Guardian — covered her death while tens of thousands of Thai netizens expressed their grief on social media. Om Sin, translated as piggy bank in Thai, was found to have had almost 1,000 coins in her stomach. These coins in both local and foreign currencies weighed 5kg and caused Om Sin blood poisoning.
“Animals die because humans want to go to heaven,” said Dr Nantarika Chansue, director of Chulalongkorn University’s Aquatic Animal Research Centre, who spearheaded the rescue mission for the sea turtle back then.
Inspired by this story and her dedication to helping animals, Dr Nantarika recently launched her new book titled Tor Tao Om Sin, with the objective to raise money to buy a valuable piece of medical equipment for animals. The equipment, a laser machine developed to rapidly treat and heal wounds, costs up to 2 million baht.
The book is also part of Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana’s marine life conservation scheme, as well as Dr Nantarika’s project “Give Them a Hug”. The three-year campaign aims to create awareness regarding the appropriate care for pets and captive animals. Supported by Chulalongkorn University, the campaign consists of various activities including marathon runs, art exhibitions, documentaries and social media engagement.
After her death, the story of Om Sin became a viral sensation but Dr Nantarika believes the sea turtle didn’t die in vain. Om Sin’s story is both an important lesson about the human treatment of animals and a reflection of the harmful impact people’s religious beliefs, superstitions and desires have on their fellow earthlings.
“At first, with the X-ray, vets said it was a tumour. When I saw the coins [in the CT scan], I was angry,” Dr Nantarika said. “How could we humans be so evil, how could we do such things to these animals?”
Om Sin endured physical and psychological pain for years — turtles normally don’t show symptoms of disease until they are fatal. The marine animal was captured and brought to live in a tiny pond in Chon Buri, coping with high stress from its new environment of concrete walls and low nutrition from its new diet of frozen feed. The autopsy following her death revealed only partially working lungs, a circulatory disturbance from excessive levels of nickel and heavy metal, and intestinal damage, among many other afflictions.
There are numerous turtles like Om Sin that have been condemned to such a fate by human hand. A turtle named Gib ingested a hair clip as well as a rubber plug while floating in her pond, Gwaeng dislocated her shoulder, most likely by being swung by someone, a sea turtle Jued grew up swimming in a freshwater carp pond and eating carp food, Betty ate a fish hook and lost muscle control after years of living in a shallow pool, Nuan broke her neck in a pond she was forced to share with four other males who each bit her viciously during courtship and Naina became blind after swimming into a drainage pipe at the edge of her concrete pool.
These are just a few of the turtles that Dr Nantarika has encountered and rescued. There remain countless other animals in dire need of help, and while Dr Nantarika wants to do her job healing animals ass a vet, it is her mission to tackle the roott cause of the problem by instilling the rightt kind of love for animals into Thai societyy and education.
Her new book,book telling the story of Om Sin’s journey, emphasises the negative aspects of holding animals captive and addresses how animals should be treated and cared for instead.
“Places like aquariums and zoos have a downside in that they take animals from natural habitats and maintain them in an unnatural setting,” she explained. “However, they also have a plus side, as they serve as an important educational institute.
“Many animal rights activists started off from their childhood experiences visiting these places. It’s hard for us to love anything if we’ve never seen it.”
Om Sin’s death has sparked reactions from many temples and public places to put up signs, some along with donation boxes, to prevent people from throwing coins into their ponds. The incident has also triggered vets and activists to propose laws and regulations to address the treatment of captive animals. Om Sin’s death has spread a message, not only to the tourists that visited her before her collapse or to the kids that saw her after her sickness, but to the world that witnessed her whole story.
Donations for the purchase of animal medical equipment can be made via Krungsri Bank savings account number 123-1-35678-5 (Siam Square branch). For more information, call 089-1116464.