A troop of wild boars was caught on camera and shown on the Beh Chia Lor Singapore Road Facebook page as they roamed the slopes.
It may look a lovely sight to some. But many people in neighbourhoods to which these animals have taken a liking are no longer enjoying the spectacle. Some also fret that this may mean that the wild boars’ natural habitat is not doing well.
When the Beh Chia Lor page featured this large group, the video was captioned “Wild Boar Family Outing”.
Several netizens joked that this “family” should be reported for breaching safe distancing regulations because the group is larger than five. But others insisted that the boars were in fact adhering to the rules because the “family” was split into smaller groups.
Most of the netizens who posted comments surmise that the emergence of these wild animals in HDB and other suburban neighbourhoods means that the forest can no longer support them.
Ricohard Lim said we should “blame the one who took away their lands and homes and they now homeless need to come out look for foods and support the families while human enjoys the income or profit they make from its lands to build new housing”.
“Imagine the possible poor state of nature that our forest is in that couldn’t provide enough food for wildlife to sustain and driving them to human civilization spaces,” said Suze Shon Ng. And Shirhan Khan added: “Really pity them, we have taken nearly all their habitat, Should transfer all of them at mandai area”
Netizens Abdur Rahim, Syed Fadil and Kunal V.J blame the presence of wild boars in urban neighbourhoods on the proliferation of Build-To-Order (BTOs) housing estates taking over the animals’ natural habitat. This can’t be helped as more flats get built, they said.
As if to validate these sentiments, the Housing Board announced on Feb 17 that by May, it will offer some 5,300 more BTO flats, and in August, another 6,300 to 6,800 BTO flats.
As one of the users said in the comments section: “Please do not be cruel to wildlife. Humans are not doing good job as apex protector of the world.” /TISG