ST News: Heard a tiger's roar in Bukit Timah?

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Nov 12, 2004

Heard a tiger's roar in Bukit Timah?

by Alexis Hooi

 

 

 

AN ANIMAL rights group yesterday intensified its search for a full-grown pet

tiger allegedly kept near Sixth Avenue, despite scepticism that someone here is

actually hiding one of these wild creatures.

 

The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) has also asked a

former zookeeper to help sniff out the rumoured beast.

 

Mr Muralidaran Louis, a security officer who handled tigers for fours years at

the Night Safari, said: 'We have a few ways of tracking down the tiger and we'll

be using those to beef up efforts.'

 

The 28-year-old declined to elaborate on these methods so as not to alert the

creature's owner, if there is such an individual.

 

Yesterday, four members of Acres distributed about 300 fliers to houses of all

sizes in the Bukit Timah area, urging residents to call the group if they have

any information about the animal.

 

Acres president Louis Ng, 26, said he has heard about a tiger kept in the

basement of a house in the Sixth Avenue area for several months. About two weeks

ago, he was also told there is a Malayan sun bear in a home in Mandai.

 

He admitted some have questioned the credibility of these claims and called the

effort a wild-goose chase, but 'whether or not all this is true, we have to make

every effort to investigate'.

 

Yesterday, the group tripled the cash reward for any information leading to the

successful capture of either animal to $3,000.

 

Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) spokesman Goh Shih Yong said the AVA

has received several calls about a pet tiger in the past 10 years, but has had

no concrete evidence so far.

 

'We need the public to tell us specifically where. Then we can move in and

investigate,' he said, adding that the agency is grateful for what Acres is

doing, as 'it is another pair of eyes and ears for us'.

 

Sixth Avenue resident Long Seng, a 62-year-old retiree, snorted in disbelief

when he was told a tiger could be living in his neighbourhood. 'If there is

one,' he said, 'I certainly haven't heard it.'

 

Singapore Zoo curator Alagappasamy Chellaiyah said a tiger could be kept in a

private home here if it was large enough.

 

Ideally though, a full-grown one - which would be about 3m long from head to

tail and 1m high, and weigh more than 250kg - should have an 80m long and 40m

wide enclosure, and a small pool to swim in.

 

No one here has been found to keep a tiger illegally, but a woman was

prosecuted in 1993 for having a sun bear and a monkey in her Pasir Panjang

house. She was fined $2,000 and the animals were confiscated.

 

The two animals, as well as tigers, are among the 30,000 animals and plants

protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild

Fauna and Flora (Cites), which Singapore has signed.

 

Under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act, anyone caught in

possession of an illegally imported specimen on the Cites list can be fined up

to $5,000 and jailed for a year.

 

Anyone keeping a wild animal without an AVA licence can also be fined a maximum

of $1,000 per animal, under the Wild Animals and Birds Act. -- Anyone with

information about people who have broken the law can call Acres' 24-hour hotline

on 9783-7782, or the AVA on 6227-0670.

IP Address:166.121.37.8