Appeal to Singapore’s Land Transport Authority to re-route the proposed cross-island MRT line away from the MacRitchie forest – sign the petition HERE.
“It was very early in the morning of 7th July 2013, at about 3.30 am, when Mr. Goh was awaken by the barking of his dogs in the garden. His house, being besides the MacRitchie Reservoir, has a number frequent visitors from the reservoir area, from pythons, a variety of snakes, White Breasted Waterhen, and Colugos.
“The dogs were very excited with something under the drain covers, scratching away and barking very loudly. Mr Goh, on lifting the drain covers, spotted an animal curled up in the drain. Being a keen naturalist, he knew that it was a harmless Sunda Pangolin (Manis javanica). He picked up the animal and kept it in his toilet to keep it out of harm’s way.
“Upon our arrival at the house, we made several calls to our naturalist friends to discuss how best to dispose of the pangolin. It was decided to call National Parks Board. Mr Benjamin Lee from NParks, whom we knew of, came quickly and returned the creature deep into the forest of MacRitchie.
“I have a brother-in-law who also has a house right besides the MacRitchie Reservoir, and he commented that he also had a pangolin visiting his garden many months back, which he returned back to the forest.
“MacRitchie reservoir, from our experience, is an area with great biodiversity, from insects, butterflies, animals, plants and fishes. We believe that the whole place should be kept undisturbed as much as possible.
“However, for creatures like the pangolin that needs greater protection from poachers, there is a need to deploy more NPark officers to protect them and other animals like the Mousedeer.”
KC Tsang
Singapore
7th July 2013
Earlier Posts:
1. Saving MacRitchie forest: A youngster’s view LINK
2: Introduction LINK
3: Flying Lemur LINK
4: Mammals LINK
5. Fragile frogs and tender tadpoles LINK
6. Refuge for reptiles LINK
7. Eco-performance LINK
8. You can’t see the wood from the trees LINK
9. Sanctuary for spiders LINK
10. Chained to our roots LINK
11. Plants LINK
12. Birds and their status.LINK
13. Mushrooms LINK
14. Butterflies, jewels of the forest LINK
15. A pangolin’s plea LINK
16. Stinkhorn fungus and butterflies LINK
17. Sensless killing of a Flying Lemur LINK
6 Responses
In not destroying a life is an act of noble responsibility. Find anything from the wild, please return it to the wild. The LTA should leave the Central Catchment Area alone, instead of destroying it, so as these wild creatures can exist in peace. They are an integral part of Singapore and have the right to live along side us, humans.
These beautiful animals are more endangered than we are. We need to give them space. Hope you’ll be seeing more of them for years to come.