There’s a Tokay Gecko at our quarters

June 25th, 2010 Posted in Personal Thoughts

Last couple of weeks, we found out there’s a Tokay Gecko living in our quarters. The distinctive sound of the tokay gave it away. When I was small kid living in Kota Marudu, I used to have a slight phobia on this creature. There were many tokays then. The sound it makes is so loud and not to mention how fearsome it looks. Now although I feel a little squeamish, I come to admire it. It’s quite beautiful once you see it and the sound is unique. However lately it seems to be the center of buying frenzy for medicinal purpose that I fear the tokay will one day get extinct. I heard that a 200gm gecko can fetch up to RM8000. A 300gm one will earn you up to RM100,000. They say the tokay has certain biological properties against cancer or even aids. The financial rewards certainly are tempting. So tempting that you may forgo opting for hire purchase order financing on a new car and just pay cash instead. I almost took the plunge to cash in the gecko not until we found out that it was actually our neighbor’s gecko. Apparently it got loose and went to our quarters instead. As a good neighbor, we informed him of our find. In turn he has to catch it himself. I still have the fear of even handling it. Some might think that I’m a fool for not keeping it myself but then I’d rather have a clear conscience.