On Sunday, the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) was notified of a case where two adult wild boars and three piglets were discovered trapped in a metal cage off Sime Road, near the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. The family of wild boars were found in a distressed state, miserable in their desperation to escape by knocking into the cage, and agitated from traffic on the nearby road, noted Channel NewsAsia.
It was a member of the public who alerted Acres of the incident, as shared on Facebook by Member of Parliament Louis Ng, who is also the founder and chief executive of Acres.
The animal welfare organization said it received a call around 3:30pm, and a team got to the location at 4pm. Twenty minutes later, all five creatures were rescued and released into the wild, and the trap was removed. Officials from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) also arrived at the scene in response to public feedback.
Anbarasi Boopal, deputy chief executive of Acres, told The Straits Times that the cage seemed to be intentionally aimed at trapping wild boars, as it was approximately 1.2m by 1.8m in size and contained food bait like corn. She estimated that the animals could have been ensnared in the late morning or early afternoon on Sunday.
According to AVA, this is the first such case it has come across in 2018. Last August, Acres was alerted of a case of wild boars illegally trapped in Segar Road at Bukit Panjang.
Investigations are currently ongoing, as it is an offence to kill, take, or keep any wild animal without a licence from AVA, the authority explained. If convicted, offenders can be fined up to S$1,000 per wild animal and will have to forfeit the animal.
