Ahhh, Singapore, your wildlife is a continuous surprise.
On Wednesday (Mar 9), videos of a panicked wild boar making its way through a section of Yishun were widely shared. The animal ran down one unfortunate woman, but onlookers called for help right away and she was taken to hospital.
The next animal sighting to get people excited was much more benign, thankfully.
TikToker sgcoolguy1974 posted a one-minute clip on March 10 showing where and whytraffic came to a halt on Orchard Road.
https://www.tiktok.com/@sgcoolguy1974/video/7073413180193656065?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1
The Tiktoker wrote: “I thought the President was leaving the Istana…”
Zooming onto the sidewalk, he found out out who the VIPs were. Sorry, VVIPs. As he said, “turned out it’s another group of VVIPs” (Very Very Important Persons).
A family of otters needed to cross the road, and the Istana police proved to be ever so helpful and obliging.
With one officer holding his hand up and walking to the middle of the street to personally escort the critters, the first of the otter led the way, with the others following.
It was not quite a seamless process. Taking advantage of their police “escort”, several otters stopped in mid-crossing, as if showing off that they knew they could lord it over everyone. before getting up and crossing to the other side.
As @sgcoolguy1974 wisely observed, it’s “really their grandfather’s road.”
The TikToker sped up the video, because the crossing actually took longer than it showed. And while we might find it delightful viewing, judging from the speed with which vehicles got going as soon as the last critter was through, the motorists weren’t quite as amused.
Indeed, the laggard otter briefly played tag with an Istana police officer before making his way to the other side.
The video has gone viral. It’s received more than 470,000 views and has made a lot of netizens happy.
Some commenters, however, expressed concern over the future of wild animals, as more and more of their habitat disappears.
/TISG