Thailand Journal – Entry 9 - A Fork in the Road

In my short and uneventful career in tiger conservation so far, I haven’t been faced with very many tough decisions. I’ve only really been faced with one major decision and it was quite easy: help save tigers or not. Naturally, I chose the former and it was that decision that put me where I am today. I wouldn’t expect any decision after that to be terribly difficult...at least not until I started making decisions that would directly affect wild tigers. For example, when I joined the Thailand Year Abroad program I had to choose what kind of placement I wanted. That was very easy as well...I wanted to get my hands dirty in tiger conservation and make a difference. However, it wasn’t that simple.

Before I left for Thailand, I wanted to figure out my field placement as soon as possible and talked to a personal hero of mine at World Wildlife Fund. She was the individual who invited me to be a member of the International Tiger Coalition, which is an organization that has some of the best and brightest tiger conservation has to offer. She welcomed me into the world of the greats and did everything she could to make me feel welcome and accepted. She also offered to help me get in touch with people who could arrange a field placement for me. I figured she would give me contacts at World Wildlife Fund – Thailand, but she pulled a fast one on me and mentioned the possibility of going to Sumatra to help out WWF-Indonesia.

Wait...what? Sumatra?

It came out of nowhere and took me off-guard.

I don’t take any opportunity in tiger conservation lightly so I started to consider both WWF-Indonesia and WWF-Thailand equally. I considered...and considered...and considered...

There were many things to think about. There is no doubt the benefits of staying in Thailand are many. I wouldn’t have to travel as far and I would already know the official language. From what I hear, there is a lot of experience and knowledge to be tapped in the Thailand program and I would also have the benefit of living in a country where the government is more apt to help the conservation cause (compared to other countries). Lastly, I would be in a more agreeable climate and there would probably be less things that could kill me in Thailand compared to Sumatra.

On the other side, going to Sumatra has its benefits too. In regards to conservation, Sumatra seems to be worse off and there could be a greater potential to have a greater impact. My contact at WWF is more familiar with the staff there and she listed a number of opportunities. The government is less responsive to conservation and big business and corruption is wide-spread...it could be a challenge, but such a challenge might be what I need. Also, given the incredible species diversity there, any benefit I can achieve for tigers could help many others such as elephants, rhinos and orangutans...and increases in the well being of these species could potentially be linked with increases in local community standards of living too. I am already linked to WWF-Indonesia to some degree...in 2007 I started a petition to address illegal coffee being grown in a national park in Sumatra. The goal was to gain signatures to help WWF negotiate with the buyers of this coffee, which was threatening species like tigers, to implement better controls on purchases. Word must have gotten around because the contact I mentioned who works for WWF-International somehow knew about me from the petition when I first emailed her. Lastly, tigers in Sumatra seem to be in more desperate need for help...Indonesia has already lost two subspecies of tigers in the past half-century and it is believed the Sumatran tiger is well on its way out.

I struggled with deciding what I wanted to pursue for over a month – after all, the decision I make could have a profound effect on my career...and on tigers. I tried as much as possible to leave superficial elements out of the picture such as what is “easy”. What is easy isn’t necessarily what is right. Through difficulties, we can better ourselves. Some of the cons about going to Sumatra fail to matter when put up against the real issue: making a difference and truly getting the skills and experience I need. It doesn’t matter how expensive, how unpleasant, or how dangerous things are, what matters is the work I do.

I didn’t ask for opportunities in Sumatra, but they were offered. After the initial surprise of having Sumatra mentioned and I found myself evaluating Sumatra more than Thailand: trying to find out all the bad things and good things and using Thailand as a baseline. In this sense, I tended to have a bias. Perhaps the opportunity tempted me. Like a game show...you could take the prize you’ve won or give it up and open door number two!

In the end, both are excellent choices and it inevitably comes down to instinct or intuition.

One night, I sat in bed thinking. At the time I was leaning slightly toward Sumatra, but had not been sure enough to make any sort of decision. There was no superior benefit to going there that inspired a confident decision and I felt no matter what I chose, it would benefit me greatly. I was in my bedroom, staring at the ceiling and looking for a sign... I was prompted to look at “animal cards” that were given to me one Christmas. Each card has a description of a certain animal and by drawing an animal card, you can get insight, lessons...a sign that could point you in the right direction. You see, those closest to nature, like indigenous populations, learn lessons from nature. The appearance of a wolf-pack can bring attention to social needs and a tiger is associated with power and independence. Usually one shuffles the cards, letting chance dictate what comes up. However, I didn’t have to shuffle...the tiger card was sitting on top. In my curiosity, I looked at the description on the back of the card. In the description, the author made several references to Sumatra. Of the possible 14 tiger range countries that could have been mentioned, it was Indonesia, and specifically, Sumatra that was used.

...wow...

Okay... I was in bed looking for a sign and on a whim, got up to a deck of animal cards, looked at the tiger card which happened to be the first card I saw and saw Sumatra mentioned more than 3 times. It was too coincidental and I felt that was the final push. I shrugged and said to myself, “Sumatra it is!”

The course of my life as it pertains to tigers has been one of curious events and coincidences that have reinforced my belief that I am meant to be doing what I am doing. I don’t give up all my thinking to serendipity... I prefer the use of logic. Nevertheless, sometimes the signs are there and I am learning to embrace them as a complementary force to my own judgement.