Singapore has a wild boar problem: Khaw
Wild boars are on the loose in Singapore.
On Friday morning, two wild boars wandered off into the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park and charged at a Cisco security officer and a child, said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan.
Writing on his blog, Khaw said the victims of the attack were not seriously injured but that the incident showed the need for the rising wild boar population to be managed.
Unfortunately, rehoming the animals, he said, was not an option.
He also said that his ministry is also working with animal welfare groups to tackle the problem of wild dogs, some of which had to be rounded up at Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West after residents there complained about dogs barking aggressively, howling late into the night and chasing park users.
While Khaw hoped that all species of animals can have their place under the sun in their natural habitat, he said his priority is towards “protecting our babies: that they will be safe and grow up well, happy, and be able to fulfil their dreams”.
That is why the government has to act on stray dogs and wild boars occasionally, he pointed out.
Apart from the Lower Pierce area, wild boars roam freely in Pulau Tekong and the fringes of Jurong.
21-year-old Gabriel Goh, a full-time national serviceman (NSF) told Yahoo! Singapore, “We see wild boars the most at night during field camps conducted by the various units under the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). They steal our food rations and tear our field packs apart by gnawing at them. The wild boars are usually harmless but when they’re enraged they can get dangerous.”
According to The Straits Times, a 2010 paper in ‘Nature In Singapore’ put the wild boar population at 552. They have been appearing in nature reserves and even crossed expressways.
The same newspaper also reported that people thought the wild pigs disappeared from mainland Singapore until about 2000, and were only sighted on islands offshore.
