Ordinary People, Extraordinary Things: Learning Love and Life Lessons from Animals. What comes to your mind when you think of the animal meerkat? Is it Sid from Ice Age? Or Timon from The Lion King? What you probably don’t know is that Sid and Timon are in fact two completely different animals!
In Taiwan, Lisa Wen, or “Mommy Meerkat,” is the first meerkat photographer in Asia. Meerkats are highly social, protective animals that live together in big groups. Fascinated with the curious and adorable animal, Wen captures the meerkats in her lens and shares her heartwarming encounters with them in photos and words. She may be just an ordinary human being, but she is doing something for the environment that is anything but ordinary.
Lisa Wen was once a successful career woman. At 24, she started her own business. She also served as Samsung’s first CEO of advertising in Taiwan for 6 years, which contributed to the company’s outstanding performance. As Wen reached her prime of life, she began having health problems and that was when she realized how empty she felt despite her busy schedule. In 2011, inspired and touched by a video she watched of meerkats, she left for Africa to get up close and personal with this species. Wen’s trip to Africa changed her life and pointed her in the right direction, down the path of self-discovery and animal protection.
For this issue’s cover story, we visited Lisa Wen to hear her tell her life story. She brought us into a new world of love and life and her story proved how a little bit of love and effort can make a big difference to our environment.
However, in 2014, only 150 were left. Her stories of her favorite animal tell us how she has been deeply affected by environmental impacts over the years.
As Civilization Advances, the Earth Is Falling
Today’s environmental changes and damages pose a threat to the survival of meerkats. Before the year 2011, extreme weather brought about abundant rainfall to the land of Africa, which accelerated grass growth. Cattle feed on the grass to clear the ground for people to walk on. However, the more cattle there are, the greater the risk of bovine tuberculosis, a disease commonly found in animals, which can be potentially fatal to meerkats. And since meerkats live in close groups, if one is infected with bovine tuberculosis, the whole family of meerkats can be wiped out. This infectious disease has caused a massive loss of meerkats in the past 2 to 3 years.
Another reason why meerkats are facing extinction is the development of industrial roads. Roads are the arteries through which the economy pulses. So, in order to stimulate economic growth, construction of new roads is vital. However, while roads bring economic benefits, they can also come with environmental costs, threatening the survival of meerkats.
Lastly, thanks to global warming, Africa went from facing heavy rainfalls to water shortage after 2011. The continent even recorded 20 months without rain, causing meerkats to face food shortage. They starved, and many baby meerkats did not survive infancy. Meerkats are vanishing, and the land has become more barren than ever.
Change Is the Answer
Lisa Wen has also travelled to many other places to help find homes for stray animals, volunteer in lion rescue projects, and observe polar bears, among many others.
In 2015, before Wen headed towards the Arctic, she did some research and found that only footprints left by polar bears can be seen now. Although she eventually captured images of polar bears, it is evident that there is something notably different in their appearance. She witnessed with her own eyes the bears’ thin frame, expressing deep concerns about the impact of climate change and how it is threatening their survival. Wen added gravely that humans are intelligent people with the power to make a difference; so, we keep on investing resources and money in order to improve our lifestyles, but what we are forgetting is the rest ofthe population living on the same piece of land as us. The only way we can truly help them and help ourselves is by putting ourselves in their shoes.
Love on Campus
Lisa Wen pointed out numerous inappropriate animal raising behaviors due to lack of professional knowledge. Since 2014, in order to enhance the implementation of environmental and ecological education, Wen began spreading love on campus by educating students. She believes that, with knowledge comes respect.
Wen designed different educational materials for different stages. For elementary students, she created educational tools that introduce animal characteristics to motivate young children to discover their own potential and skills. As they learn about animals, they are also realizing their individual value and worth. Older students, on the other hand, learn to respect and value others by giving examples of animals in the form of lectures and discussion groups. Laughing, Wen recalled the one time after a session in a senior high school, a male student stood up on the stage holding a microphone and began apologizing for his past behavior.
Wen believes that, for a resourceful person, as long as he or she is willing to change and willing to use the resources wisely, the world we are living in would be very different. To this day, Wen continues to devote herself in promoting character building and development in youth while also preparing free materials about animals in hopes of sharing her love and passion to more people around the world.
An Indomitable Fighter
Many obstacles arise along Wen’s journey of animal conservation. The only thing that keeps her going is the fact that animals cannot stand up nor can they speak up for themselves. As a result, animals develop a strong survival instinct which is the power driving me to fight, to speak up, and to stand up for animals.
During the interview, we found a similarity between Lisa Wen and animals: they are all indomitable fighters. Just a year ago she was fighting cancer, now she is full of energy and passion. Time is life, life is time. Wen believes in living every day to the fullest and seizing every moment and opportunity.
Regain Hope and Keep Loving
At the end, Wen pointed out that animals came to the earth earlier than humans; they are the original inhabitants of earth. If the world had only one color and one behavior, then it would be way too dull and boring. It is because our earth is filled with all sorts of animals that make it such a colorful and rich world. Wen also touched upon the bond between man and animals and the roles certain animals play in our lives. For example, humans finding comfort in cats and dogs. Animals provide companionship, compassion, and love. Humans should learn to co-exist with animals and respect and treasure each and every living creature on earth.
Photography by Lisa Wen
