Southern Albania - June 2009

[Edvard Mizsei]

Edvard, when your friend Mondi does not take the snakes, it becomes very dangerous

Yes, I know....

[Edmond Themeli]

Damn i was very skinny back then

[Berislav Horvatic]

If/when you move to the US, as you said you would (and as soon as possible, as you are personally concerned,
which is quite understandable in your case), who's going to be left in Albania after we "loose" you?!
Not joking at all. Some years ago we established the "Balkan axis" Zagreb-Belgrade-Skopje (much before the
politicians did their due...), primarily regarding the Vipera ursinii project, but the "axis" has remained firm
& open regarding any collaboration... There was a problem of finding anyone serious & qualified & interested
enough in BiH and Montenegro, but even that has been solved in the last few years. Albania naturally belongs
(should belong!) to that Balkan "axis" (or "association", whatever you prefer to call it...) - so, who's left there
if you happen to leave for good?
It's, of course, not your own "responsibility", but maybe you could somehow help the "Balkan effort"... which
has already become, may I say, a most welcome reality - without Albania, so far, alas...
So, join the "Balkan brotherhood", or tell us who we can rely on if/when you disappear from these quarters...

[Edmond Themeli]

Unfortunately i don't know anyone to have same passion as me,seems like people are too busy doing other things rather than ''wasting'' time running after some ''ugly'' snakes !! I hope there is someone else who love these creatures but i highly doubt it.

[Berislav Horvatic]

Unfortunately i don't know anyone to have same passion as me,seems like people are too busy
doing other things rather than ''wasting'' time running after some ''ugly'' snakes !! I hope there is
someone else who love these creatures but i highly doubt it.

But Albania has universities, with biological departments, I suppose... People there don't necessarily
have to LOVE these creatures, as you do - their expert knowledge (if any!) would suffice for the "job"...

[Edmond Themeli]

I totally agree but man you have no idea !! We are being surrounded with negativism each and every day in any aspect.It's hard to have a decent conversation about reptiles because the younger generation would laugh at your face and the older would call me insane.I know an organization exists out there but their work consists mostly in protecting the near extinction species and nature in general so in other words it's not about reptiles only.I tried to make people change their opinion through the years,showing them snakes and invited them to touch them and see them closely but it's futile.Still nowadays they think " a good snake is a dead one " !!!

[Berislav Horvatic]

I totally agree but man you have no idea !!!

Oh, yes, I do, believe me. I only have a somewhat better "fighting ground" to start with, and a much stronger support
(by many more qualified and interested people than you have around), but in the field, it's the same old sad story...
not only a "Balkan" one... Do you really think that an average German or Italian or whoever in the EU is any better in
that respect?
But I was asking about the professionals, the biologists, there must be at least some of them in your country, after all...
Having had/attempted any contact with them?

[Edmond Themeli]

First of all i don't claim to be a biologist or even professional herpetologist.I'm just a guy who sincerely love animals and nature and to be honest i never tried to contact any biologist because i don't think they will move a finger and start doing anything good.Nobody gave a damn about entire forests being cut and burned and government is letting that happen still nowadays.Maybe i sound a bit pessimistic but nothing good is done after all these years.Sad but true.

[Edmond Themeli]

Almost forgot,i appeared two times in some TV reportage about snakes but i got very disappointed because i thought it would have some education value and i hoped to have to talk a bit in defense of these creatures and clean a little the bad name people gave to them but you know these TV's are all about sensationalism and make the audience go : wow...look at this guy who play with snakes !!! It wasn't what i expected at all.

[Berislav Horvatic]

First of all i don't claim to be a biologist or even professional herpetologist. I'm just a guy who sincerely
love animals and nature and to be honest i never tried to contact any biologist because i don't think they
will move a finger and start doing anything good.

Well, by my formal education and profession, I'm a theoretical physicist, not a professionally trained/educated
biologist. But I have contacted both amateurs (at first) and professionals (not much later) in biology, as soon as
"the thing became serious (for me)", and I've never regretted that. You can't fight alone, and the company I had
the luck to find has been to me like a family ever since. There is mutual love & respect, and I'm most happy to
confirm it openly. They include not only my compatriots, but quite a few people from many countries I had the
luck to get to know. Wish you had the same luck yourself, but if you haven't, I can understand your frustration.

i appeared two times in some TV reportage about snakes but i got very disappointed because i thought it would
have some education value and i hoped to have to talk a bit in defense of these creatures and clean a little the
bad name people gave to them but you know these TV's are all about sensationalism and make the audience go :
wow...look at this guy who play with snakes !!! It wasn't what i expected at all.

But please, my friend, we've all been through THAT, at least once or twice... And of course we all got pissed off
by what the media extracted from what we honestly (& perhaps naively) tried to confer... Nothing new under
the sun... Quoting myself from a recent posting in another "thread" here:

Once, in a TV release, I described that with the words "Zagreb is sandwiched between V. ammodytes and
V. berus..." Of course I said a lot more than that, explaining everything, but you can easily imagine what
was (mis)used to advertize the release... and what was cut out by the editors (or whomever)...

But the overall result was not that utterly bad after all, and I still feel it was worth the "risk" (of playing a game
with the Satan. Since, unlike dr. Faustus, I didn't pawn my very soul... just a tiny bit of my public reputation as
a "serious scientist", which isn't worth that much anyway, at least to me.)

Anyhow, enough of that - de hoc satis. Roger & out.