‘Just pure ignorance’

THE Facebook photo of the stranded whale shark in Boljoon town drew a slew of online condemnations from social media users.

“This is just pure ignorance.What a disgusting thing to do on a very precious creature,” said Maimai Cabilao-Ortiz in her Facebook post on seeing the whale shark’s tail being tied with a rope by a tourist.

“And the worst thing finally happened. I know it would come to this point,” Aldo Nelbert Banaynal said. Twitter users also lashed out, saying animal cruelty has no place in the Philippines.

“Riding on top of the whale shark? That girl is CRAZY & the people helping her. STOP ANIMAL CRUELTY!!” said ZOOOOMBMaster.

There are also those who condemned the act as a violation of ecotourism ethics.

“This is totally violating the principles of eco-tourism. The act is exploiting the helpless gentle giants and also risks the safety of the tourist,” Maera Valanzuela said in her Facebook post.

Most of the Twitter posters mistook the photo as having been taken in Oslob town. Oslob Mayor Ronald Guaren said the photo wasn’t taken in his town.

In her post, Maribel Romero said the whale shark watching would be better off if it is handled by a nongovernment organization, rather than the municipal government.

“No matter how the local government covers it up to make things appear as if they have managed it properly, it is still futile. Those who have gone there can attest of how crude is their so called ‘care’ for the butandings. There should be a private nonprofit organization to handle things out, independent from the politics of Oslob,” she posted in her Facebook account.UP Cebu Intern Sean Timothy Salvador