SINGAPORE: A motorist was surprised to see a herd of rare sambar deer on the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) side on Friday (Nov 29).
A video of the incident was posted on the Facebook page of SG Road Vigilante – SGRV later that day, which said that the deer were seen grazing at the shoulder of the expressway.
One herd member had been standing near the vehicles on the road but crossed the railing as the car approached, rejoining the rest of the herd.
The post urged others on the road to be careful, especially motorcycle riders. The motorist slowed down as he saw the deer and was able to catch close-up footage of the rare animals.
Surprisingly, they stayed close by and did not shy away despite the vehicle’s presence.
Some commenters on the video said that the motorist should not have stopped on the BKE unless there was an actual emergency, as this could have been dangerous for other drivers.
According to a report in The Straits Times, the video was originally shared on WhatsApp and forwarded many times.
In January this year, a couple also saw a group of Sambar deer along the BKE, sharing a video of the incident on TikTok.
Sightings of the Sambar Deer in Singapore are rare. Over the years, the deer has been spotted only a handful of times, around Mandai Lake Road, Bukit Brown Cemetery, near MacRitchie Nature Reserve and Upper Seletar Reservoir.
In 2015, Nature Society (Singapore) said: “Sambar deer sightings have been reported for a number of years now.
It has been known that they frequent the Mandai part of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve and have been reported as far south as Bukit Brown cemetery.
“The origin of this herd is not yet determined, and the sambar deer population here is also not clear – possibly in the 20s.”
The Sambar deer was believed to have gone extinct in Singapore in the 1940s due to poaching and habitat destruction.
In 1947, Dr C.A. Gibson-Hill of the Raffles Museum shared with The Straits Times that the Sambar deer “are plentiful in parts of Johor, but has not been observed in Singapore for a number of years.
Their last stronghold was the Bukit Timah Forest area. A Sambar was last taken there about 1920.”
Sambar deer can live for up to 20 years. They can be found in other parts of Asia, such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India and the south of China. /TISG
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