Desire to Hold Animals - Scholarship Essay Example

Full Loving Animals People are not born with habits; rather, they grow to form them. There are many factors that affecthabits to be formed like culture, environment, beliefs, knowledge and familial background. This is probably the reason why most habits tell something about a person. Maybe the most “telling” habit about me is my compelling desire to hold animals. I cannot help stopping to appreciate whenever I see them. I am an animal lover. I own two dogs, three cats and an aquarium with colorful fishes.

Fishes are real attractions for me because they always amaze me in various ways, not only through their beauty but also their movements as they swim up and down to find food or simply to play. Having an aquarium at home somehow makes me feel some connection to the ocean. Sometimes, I go scuba diving to have a closer look and experience more of the beauty of the sea. I especially love the natural habitat of fishes which are more beautiful up close compared to what I watch through the television.

Swimming with fishes is also an enjoyable experience, touching them and playing with the wild. Such hobby may be dangerous because of predators like the shark, but the danger is negligent when one knows how to manage ocean life. For me, I would still have to try swimming along with a nearly extinct species which is also where my advocacies are inclined – the sharks. The aquarium somehow makes my ocean experiences come afresh. I also love fishing which could be ironic for an animal lover. However, this could be because fishing is legal.

I eat fish and sometimes, I extremely enjoy them, especially those which are claimed to be healthy like the tuna. Nevertheless, I hate shark fin soup. Although it is claimed to be a healthy delicacy, it seems to me to be a great crime to eat it. Many would probably love to taste it because of the implication it could make of a person who could afford the victual, known to be highly priced, but the action looks to me to be inhumane. As a person who loves watching and reading information about animals, I have learned that sharks are brutally treated when they are caught for their fins.

I find this rather inhumane and as such, eating it is equally so. The delicacy may have been noted as healthy, good for the heart, claimed to lower cholesterol and even prevent cancer, but the act of getting the sharks to extinction is unacceptable. Wild Aid, an organization dedicated to stop illegal wildlife trade, says that sharks are top predators, so when they are gone, the entire ocean ecosystem would suffer. With the important role of a species that will not only affect ocean life but land life as well, it is vital that people should be educated about sharks so that their preservation would be from a united effort and will not just come from a counted few.

Moreover, modern scientists claim that there is no truth in the belief of the health benefits deemed to be taken from shark fin. Instead, they found high doses of mercury in sharks which can potentially affect men’s potency, especially when consumed on a regular basis. In addition, women and children are discouraged to eat foods from shark because they are highly dangerous, especially to pregnant women. With such information, we should then help organizations in preserving not only the sharks but other animals as well because somehow they were created for some purposes that eventually benefit us.