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| With the streets empty, the creatures have been spotted hanging out by a shopping centre, scampering through the lobby of a hospital and even feasting on pricey fish stolen from a pond (AFP Photo/Roslan RAHMAN) |
Singapore's otters, long adored by the city-state's nature lovers, are popping up in unexpected places during the coronavirus lockdown but their antics have angered some and even sparked calls for a cull.
With the
streets empty, the creatures have been spotted hanging out by a shopping
centre, scampering through the lobby of a hospital and even feasting on pricey
fish stolen from a pond.
While many
think of tiny Singapore as a densely populated concrete jungle, it is also
relatively green for a busy Asian city, and has patches of rainforest, fairly
clean waterways and abundant wildlife.
There are
estimated to be about 90 otters in Singapore, making up 10 families, and
appearances at popular tourist sites around the city-state's downtown
waterfront have transformed them into local celebrities.
They
featured in a documentary narrated by David Attenborough, are tracked avidly by
the local media -- and have been spotted more frequently since people were
asked to stay home and workplaces closed in April to fight the virus.
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| While many think of Singapore as a densely populated concrete jungle, it is also relatively green and has patches of rainforest, fairly clean waterways and abundant wildlife (AFP Photo/Roslan RAHMAN) |
"When
there's restriction of movement, there's less vehicles and there's less people,
so the urban space opens up," said N. Sivasothi, a biologist at the
National University of Singapore known as "Otterman" due to his work
on the animals.
But their
newfound freedoms appear to have emboldened the otters, and they are now facing
a backlash.
'More
daring'
The most
high-profile incident was a raid on a pond at a spa shuttered due to the
pandemic. The creatures gobbled several fish including an arowana, a prized
species that can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
Actress-turned-entrepreneur
Jazreel Low, who owns the spa, posted pictures on Facebook of fish parts
scattered around the pond and lamented a "massacre".
"They
probably realised that there was nobody there and became more daring," Low
told entertainment news website 8 DAYS.
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| With the streets empty, the creatures have been spotted hanging out by a shopping centre, scampering through the lobby of a hospital and even feasting on pricey fish stolen from a pond (AFP Photo/Roslan RAHMAN) |
The case
sparked a debate about whether more should be done to stop otters rampaging
through the city, with a widely discussed letter in a local newspaper calling
for air horns and rubber bullets to be used as deterrents.
"Wild
boars have never been encouraged to enter urban areas, neither should otters be
just because they look cute," wrote Ong Junkai in the correspondence to
the Straits Times, which triggered calls from some for a cull.
In other
incidents, a video showed a group charging into the lobby of a children's
hospital before being shooed away, and the creatures were also filmed
frolicking in the empty streets outside a popular shopping centre.
The otters'
more frequent forays onto the streets of Singapore are part of a global trend
triggered by virus lockdowns, with animals increasingly slipping cover to
explore the streets of some of the world's biggest cities.
'Coexist
and thrive'
Still,
otter experts believe the anger is an overreaction and that the creatures are
likely just enjoying the extra freedom to venture to new places.
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Fans say
people should celebrate the return of an animal that was driven out
of
Singapore by coastal development and water pollution around the 1970s, and
only
started reappearing in the 1990s as waterways were cleaned (AFP Photo/
Roslan
RAHMAN)
|
NUS's Sivasothi criticised calls for a cull as "quite an uneducated response", and said such a move would be ineffective.
He also
said many recent sightings were likely of the same family of smooth-coated
otters, which have been searching for a new home along the city's rivers. Most
of Singapore's otters are the smooth-coated variety, classified as
"vulnerable".
Fans
believe people should be celebrating the return of an animal that was driven
out of Singapore by coastal development and water pollution around the 1970s,
and only started reappearing in the 1990s as waterways were cleaned.
"I
simply don't understand anyone who could not like them. They are really
cute," said Pam Wong, a 35-year-old Singaporean.
Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong weighed in on the debate Friday, posting a photo he
took of otters before the lockdown on his Facebook account.
"Rather
than being focused on protecting 'territory', we must find ways to coexist and
thrive with our local flora and fauna," he wrote.
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