Staff disagreed with decision to cancel Halloween Horrors
The decision to cancel the popular Night Safari event “Halloween Horrors” had divided Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) staff.
When new chief executive of WRS Isabella Loh cancelled the event last Tuesday -- two weeks before its launch on 30 September -- some of them tried to convince her that it would not make sense as close to $1 million had been spent on themed food supplies, retail items and decorations for it.
Anonymous sources said that, initially, Loh, who replaced Fanny Lai as WRS chief in July, had wanted to cancel the event next year, and that it was unclear why the decision was made to can it this year instead.
The staff argued that the event -- started in 2006 by Lai -- was an award-winning signature event for the park, The Straits Times reported.
On top of the cancellation, some staff were also unhappy at the way Loh handled the issue and the comments she made over the past week.
While Loh has clarified the event was canned not because of religious reasons, the same paper reported that she had made references to "devil worship" when members of her team asked her why the event did not fit the family theme.
"I explained in an e-mail that that is a lot of money spent on an infrastructure (Haunted House) of devil worship," she said.
It was also reported that Loh was "uncomfortable with the idea because it was too scary" after visiting the Haunted House on Monday.
When she first announced the cancellation, Loh said this was "because of negative feedback from corporations, friends of the zoo, the public and the media, especially over the event's relevance in relation to conservation."
She added that, going forward, WRS' three parks -- it also runs the Singapore Zoo and Jurong Bird Park -- will have more family-centric activities.
She also initially linked the event cancellation to comments made by President Tony Tan Keng Yam when he visited the zoo on Sept 11 that it was important for Singapore to have family bonding activities.
In a Facebook post on WRS' page on Saturday, Loh wrote, "I would also like to clarify that I did not intend to link President Tan's comment from our Mid Autumn Festival "Moon Night" celebrations (last Sunday) to the decision to close Halloween Horrors, which was made in consultation and agreed by the management of Wildlife Reserves Singapore. The Board was informed."
Loh also apologised to the Singapore Polytechnic students who had helped organise the event as part of their final-year project and added, "I have spoken with their Principal and I plan to meet them personally to discuss this matter early next week."
