Last night, it was reported that a woman in her 30s was taken to the hospital after an unfortunate encounter with a wild boar in Punggol left her injured and bloodied. Facebook user Tora Tora had put up a social media post yesterday to warn others of the incident, and it quickly went viral overnight.
According to The Straits Times, the woman was an employee at Punggol Secondary School, where the incident occurred. Not so coincidentally, the school is situated close to a forested area that will soon make way for development.
Channel NewsAsia reported that the lady was knocked over by the animal outside Waterbay condominium, where the Singapore Civil Defence Force was alerted to a call for medical assistance at 5:15pm at 51 Edgefield Plains. Some eyewitnesses told Channel 8 News that the boar subsequently escaped to the building’s trash collection point.
The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) was also notified of the incident, receiving a call about the creature around 5pm. Kalai Vanan, Acres’ deputy chief executive, explained that the boar, which has since been sedated and relocated, likely came from Lorong Halus.
On social media, while some netizens expressed sympathy for the victim, others jumped in to defend and commiserate with the animals, whose habitats have been cleared in recent years to make way for housing blocks.
Then there’s always the one joker who’ll make light of any situation.
Anyway, if you’ve kept up with the news, you’ll know that this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Wild boar sightings are pretty common on our island, but once in a while, the creatures end up in the news for attacking members of the public — like when a man was sent to the hospital after an incident with the animal outside Hillview Avenue condo last year.
So if you happen to bump into one, just remain calm and slowly move away from the boar. Maintain a good distance from it and refrain from approaching it, feeding it, or provoking it, for your own safety.
