Singapore — An otter pup was badly hurt after a fight between its parents and a separate group of three adults, and needed emergency surgery. Sadly, it didn’t survive.
Some Singaporeans, who aren’t exactly enamoured of these aquatic natives, might well say “So what? What’s the big deal?”
The smooth-coated otters have charmed many people in Singapore, who have taken to photographing them, tracking their movements, and sharing their findings and photos on social media.
But wait, there’s more.
The public fondness for the otters goes deeper than that. While the lion is the country’s historic national symbol, the lion has never been native to Singapore. Not like these otters were before, and now, are again.
The otters are thought to have slipped back into Singapore from Malaysia, apparently from around the turn of the century, drawn to the Republic’s refreshed and revitalised rivers after a decades-long clean-up campaign initiated in 1977 by Singapore’s founding prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
That clean-up cost $300 million, an enormous sum at the time, with the country only just in its second decade as an independent nation. The campaign made it necessary to relocate some 4,000 squatters, hawkers, and vegetable vendors for whom the Singapore River was their common sewer.
It would have been impossible for the otters to thrive in that environment. So these otters are also a national symbol of a new, cleaner, prosperous and more advanced Singapore. And in the new millennium, a matter of national pride.
That river clean up was not just a matter of good housekeeping for Mr Lee Kuan Yew, but something close to his heart. No surprise then that in 2017, his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong should remind Singaporeans how important it is not to pollute the waterways with litter and trash.
With this history in heart and mind, word of the baby otter’s injury was significant news. It was shared on Tuesday by the Facebook page Ottercity, a platform dedicated to the otter population in Singapore.
“We believe the family (two adults and two pups) got into a fight with a trio of adults last Thursday,” the writer noted.
Despite being outnumbered, the baby’s parents fought off the trio of adults, but both the mum and the 17-week-old female were injured.
While the mother recovered well, volunteers fretted about the little one that they monitored closely every day.
Ottercity said: “We are in constant communications with Otter Working Group (OWG), including vets from ACRES (Animal Concerns Research and Education Society) and Mandai Wildlife Reserve.” The reserve, recently rebranded as the Mandai Wildlife Group, is home to the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, River Wonders and the upcoming Bird Paradise.
The pup began showing small steps to recovery; however, her vital signs changed for the worse on Tuesday. The Otter Working Group then decided to rescue the baby. More than 25 volunteers worked on-site for hours in a bid to help the baby. But in vain.
“There simply was no opportunity to get to her as the family kept her close by their side. They hid deep within the holt,” said Ottercity.
On Wednesday, Ottercity posted an update and told followers it had “gone over the Rainbow Bridge” early that morning.
“She left within the comfort and warmth of her family who kept her close to them throughout the night.”
When volunteers arrived to check on the pup on Wednesday, the parents and older brother were out to feed. The pup was motionless, “lying in a peaceful and comfortable position – as if she were in a nice, deep sleep”.
Her body was extracted from the holt and sent for a necropsy.
“The little one didn’t have a name; most of us just fondly called her Ah Girl. She will always be remembered for her courage, strength and cheerfulness,” Ottercity added. /TISG
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