In news that contrasts with the typical feel-good reports about the jolly adventures of Singapore’s otters, two of the critters were found dead in a metal trap at Changi Beach on Wednesday.
According to OtterWatch, the two were likely to be from the Pasir Ris otter family. One was reportedly found dead in a cage — typically used to catch crabs and fish — while the other cadaver was found along the beach.
Members of the public who came across the corpses alerted OtterWatch, who deployed volunteers to the scene near Changi Sailing Club. By the time they arrived, the body on the beach had apparently drifted away, while the swollen carcass of the other otter remained “partially trapped” in the cage, with a monitor lizard gnawing on its maggot-infested head.
“How many otters must die before action is taken against these traps and people? How many and how many more?” the otter community group wrote in the post. Last year, an otter was found dead in a cage along the Marina Promenade in the Kallang Basin, with the suspect caught hours later setting up traps in the same area.
Fishing cages and traps have been a bane to Singapore’s otters and otter lovers since the animals’ population started booming here. Some of these traps may be long forgotten and abandoned by fishermen, in turn becoming a deadly hazard for curious wildlife.
OtterWatch got a wee bit emotional following the death of the two otters and dramatically imagined the pain the Pasir Ris otter family might be going through. “Life will go on for them but there will never be closure for the family.”
