To kick their “We went to a beach populated with starfish and you didn’t” selfie game up a notch, these tourists on a viral Facebook post snapped a photo of them hurling innocent sea stars through the air and back to the waters like dumb ninjas.
It’s like picking the starfish up from the waters wasn‘t enough, they had to throw them away. I don’t understand why and what kind of pleasure they think they’d get from doing this (and what they actually got).
Project Alagalaan, a Facebook page that aims to educate people on traveling responsibly and sustainably, posted on the social media site photos of a group of tourists in Bataraza, Palawan last night, Nov. 12. It wrote that the photos went viral last night, but the original poster was untraced.
Starfish have rock hard exterior and are relatively tough, but this doesn’t mean that you can do anything with them. Plucking them off rocks or any surface can damage their tube feet and cause unnecessary stress. Imagine somebody disturbing you from your daily tasks and hurt you in the process, wouldn’t you want to punch them?
In September, we wrote about Charlie, the vandal of coral life in Bauan, Batangas, who inscribed his name and “2018” on the perfectly okay corals. Last month, we reported about a former mayor who bragged about eating sea turtle eggs. We can’t just leave starfish and other marine creatures alone, can we? This is why we can’t have nice things.
Before doing anything that has even the slightest chance of harming the living things around you, consider their welfare and what it means for you and the other party. Do you really need it? Is it worth it? Act consciously and responsibly.
Nobody cares about your face beside a starfish. We care about a starfish peacefully living in its natural habitat. Now, that’s a much better photo.
Featured image courtesy of Palawan Supernews on Facebook
Read more:
Former mayor brags about eating sea turtle eggs, gets probed by DENR
DENR will most likely reject the revived Palawan underwater park (again)
This heavy seawall construction on a La Union beach is keeping sea turtles out
Read more by Yazhmin Malajito:
#FindingCharlie: The vandal of coral life in Batangas
Forget plastic and cling film—use this sustainable food wrapper instead
Please, let’s stop using glitter