Singapore – Over a hundred fish belonging to the Church of Saint Teresa located along Kampong Bahru Road were killed or gobbled up in a span of four days as a family of otters discovered a source of food.
On Monday morning (May 24), staff members were shocked to see numerous dead fish scattered around the premises.
Church staff eventually realised it was caused by a family of otters that decided to pay them a visit.
The remains of dozens of dead koi, some with their heads or tails bitten off, was featured in a video posted by Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News on May 28.
As the person recording the scene investigated the area, the otters were soon spotted exiting the pond.
The person continued filming and captured the otters running towards the church’s gate to escape.
The church has two ponds, and some of the koi had been carefully raised by church staff and gardeners for over 15 years, a reader told Shin Min.
The individual shared that the otters sneaked into the church over four consecutive days and went for the smaller pond first. When they had finished the koi there, they moved on to the bigger one.
“As the ponds are outdoors, the otters could’ve sneaked in at night,” said the 71-year-old retiree. He noted that the church staff tried to prevent another incident from happening again.
Although several koi survived the otter attack, the retiree couldn’t help but worry if the otters will be back for the remaining ones./TISG
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