SINGAPORE: Two adult wild boars and three piglets were found in a trap off Sime Road near the Central Catchment Nature Reserve on Sunday (Oct 7).

"The pigs were found very distressed, desperately trying to get out by knocking themselves on the metal cage," said Ms Anbarasi Boopal, deputy chief executive of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES).





"They also appeared stressed from the vehicle traffic just on the road."

A member of the public had alerted ACRES to the matter, said Member of Parliament Louis Ng, who is the founder and chief executive of ACRES.

He shared a video of the trapped animals on Facebook, saying investigations into who laid the trap are ongoing.





ACRES said it arrived at the scene at about 4pm, adding that it took about 20 minutes to rescue the animals.

"We had to carefully cover the cage on all sides to minimise the stress, climb on top of the cage to open the cage door safely so they can run out to the forests and not to the road," said Ms Boopal.

She added that some leftover corn was found in the cage, and that the boars could have been trapped in the late morning or early afternoon on Sunday.

ACRES said it has not come across any wild boars caught in traps at Sime Road prior to this incident, although it has investigated more than 20 cases of wildlife poaching in Singapore, especially birds, in 2017.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said it had received public feedback about wild boars trapped at Sime Road on Sunday afternoon and responded to the incident with ACRES.

The trap was removed after the animals were released into the forest, it said.

The authority said it was investigating the case, and urged members of the public to come forward if they had relevant information.

"In Singapore, it is an offence to kill, take or keep any wild animal without a licence from AVA," said the authority. "Offenders, upon conviction, can be fined up to S$1,000 per wild animal, and the forfeiture of the wild animal."

It added that this was the first such case that AVA had encountered this year.

Last August, ACRES responded to a case of wild boars being illegally trapped in Segar Road in Bukit Panjang. It was one of at least three cases that the group has been alerted to in the past couple of years.



Members of the public can report relevant information to AVA at 6805 2992 or via an online feedback form at https://csp.ava.gov.sg/feedback.