the other press Op-Ed Section Editor: Erin Culhane Mach 5, 2003 opinionsubmit@hotmail.com sroad’s Eye View Demise of Asian Antelope Should bea Warning to Us FLUC SUZUKI ave you ever heard of a saiga? Probably not, and if hings continue the way they are going, you may not ever ee one either. At least, not in the wild. The saiga is an unusual-looking type of antelope. Once, more than one million of them roamed parts of ussia and Kazakhstan. Today, there are only a few thou- and left. But I’m not talking about ancient history involving a ass slaughter from a less-civilized time. By “once” I ean all the way back in 1993. In just one decade, boachers have hunted the species to near extinction. And biologists say that it may be too late for populations to ebound. Saiga are truly odd-looking beasts. They are fairly small Well it’s been a week since the big OP/DSU Pub Night and I figure now is as good a time as any to reflect. Was it a success? I’m not sure. The turn out could have been better, but for the faithful who walked all the way up to the fourth floor—I believe a good time was had by all. Local rock gods the Drycleaners, headed by OP staffer Trevor Hargreaves, kicked things off and kept the prize- hungry crowd licking their spaghetti-smeared chops with giveaways a plenty. Who knew drunk students liked free stuff so much? One lovely young lady got so over- excited; she rushed the stage and fell down in a valiant effort to rip an OP toque from Trevor's hands. A pity, and rather embarrassing; well. ..for everyone but her. She seemed quite comfortable and remained spread-eagled at Trevor's feet until she was “helped” off the stage and returned from whence she came. There was similar enthusiasm for all of the giveaways and it was fascinating to watch Douglas College students cheerfully sacrifice all pride and dignity for homemade mugs, gold-coloured pens and baby tees. The only uncomfortable part of the evening for me was when the Polys came on stage. Thanks to OP girl-about- town and assistant culture editor Amanda Allstar Aikman, I had been turned on to the Polys and was look- ing forward to seeing the band for the second time. Up- and coming in all areas west of New West, the Polys should have been the most anticipated act of the evening. Sadly, some in attendance on Thursday felt that the arcade games at the back of the room were simply too riveting to come forward and pay attention to the band. Oh sure, only minutes before there were hysterical crowds lining the front of the stage, clambering for free- bies, but the Polys were practically greeted by cricket sounds. Now, I’m sorry. I know as a writer for the OP I should be grateful for the fact that any of you showed up at all, and I am. I really am. But I am personally disappointed in all of you. Yes you! And you and you and you over — about one metre tall and weigh around 35 kilograms, with thick bodies, skinny legs, huge eyes and bulbous noses. The males have long, ringed horns, which sell for upwards of $150 per kilogram in China, where they are valued for use in traditional medicines. Prices like these attract poachers from all over Asia to the Russian steppe grasslands, where the antelope roam in herds. In the past, saiga were hunted extensively for their meat and skins, but populations remained stable because the animals reproduce rapidly. However, when the Soviet Union collapsed, vast areas of Asia were opened up, enabling poaching gangs to roam freely and hunt from vehicles using high-powered rifles. Male saiga have been specifically targeted for their horns. Just ten years ago herds of saiga blackened areas of Central Kazakhstan. Today, according to biologists cited in New Scientist, there are less than 4,000 left in this area, and they are all female. Unless males are brought in from elsewhere, these herds will soon disappear altogether. Saving this antelope will be a huge challenge. The saiga isn't exactly a poster child for an endangered species cam- paign. Most people have never heard of them and they arent the most beautiful creatures in the world. They werent even red-listed by the World Conservation Union as critically endangered until last fall because their num- bers fell so unexpectedly quickly. The saiga conflict will hardly be the last between humans and other species. With more than six billion people on the planet and the proliferation of modern there with the ill-begotten baby tee! I’m of the mind, that even if you don’ like the music, you should support the band that came all the way out to New West to enter- tain you. Whatever happened to the Canadian way of modesty, meekness and manners? At one point the band actually resorted to bribing people to come to the front, offering free beer to anyone who could bring two people up front and convince them to stay for one song. Sadly, once the free beer was consumed, many students slunk away. It’s a real shame because they were bloody brilliant. The faithful were rewarded with a tight, albeit brief, show that drove home the fact that the Polys deserved better. Excuse me as I hike up my skirt and step down from my soapbox, this concludes the shaming portion of this column. Let us now talk about the great common bond that crosses all divides—cake! The paper served up one mother of a cake that was almost too purty to cut up. And believe me you; there is nothing more entertaining than drunks eating cake. It was like my sixth birthday party all over again—all that was missing was Uncle Milton doing shooters under the pifiata. The paper must have enjoyed serious advertising bang for their buck—if consuming sickly sweet goodness courtesy of the OP didn’t make folks consider their student paper, their navy blue icing-stained mouths certainly did. My tongue is still slightly discoloured and I know when I spent a half hour desperately trying to brush it back to pink, I was thinking about the OP. Other than the Polys debacle, I do think the evening was a success and I’m grateful to those of you who showed up. I had a pretty good time. Great music, cheap drinks, spaghetti and cake; the stuff dreams are made of. Hopefully the OP and the DSU will unite to do it again real soon. In the meantime, why don’t you start thank- ing them by writing for the Other Press? I know for a fact, for the majority of you, it’s not every day someone tells you they want you. And they do, really they do. technology, the world has become very small indeed. Human power has never been greater. And never has there been a greater need to wield this power with cau- tion. The World Conservation Union lists 11,167 species as threatened with extinction. But we have only docu- mented 10 to 20 percent of all living things. So in reali- ty, many more species are likely endangered, but we don't yet know they exist! The meteoric fall of the saiga should be a warning to us. If we can decimate such a prolific mammal over such a short period of time, we cannot afford to become com- placent about any species. So when countries like Japan or Norway say that we should allow commercial whaling, or when provinces like British Columbia say that hunt- ing grizzly bears for sport is fine because the province has a general idea of how many bears are left, the public should be very concerned. These days, it doesn't take long for a species to go from plentiful to critical. We may like to think that the slaughter of an animal on a massive scale is the kind of thing that occurred in the past, when the world was less civilized and we didn't know any better. But the saiga have disappeared right under our noses in modern times. Canadians should be especially sensitive, having watched northern cod and hundreds of runs of Pacific salmon disappear. Our tech- nologies and our sheer numbers have made us incredibly powerful, but clearly we have a lot of growing up to do. To discuss this topic with others, visit the discussion forum at . ms @