Alleged otter baiting: Authorities looking into possible case of animal cruelty
SINGAPORE — The man who allegedly tried to bait otters with a fishing hook at the Kallang River did not commit a criminal offence but authorities are trying to ascertain if he had committed any other offences, including animal cruelty, TODAY understands.
SINGAPORE — The man who allegedly tried to bait otters with a fishing hook at the Kallang River did not commit a criminal offence but authorities are trying to ascertain if he had committed any other offences, including animal cruelty, TODAY understands.
The police is currently assisting national water agency PUB and the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) in their investigations.
In a bid to explain himself, the angler, who appeared to have fished illegally, yesterday (Oct 23) came forward to the police voluntarily after seeing a viral video of himself circulating on social media.
The YouTube video posted earlier this week by someone with the moniker Fast Snail shows a man seemingly luring a group of five otters with his fishing line at the stretch of Kallang River near Toa Payoh Lorong 8, while bystanders watched. In the video, one of the pups squeaked in distress after it got caught by the fishing hook. The injured otter was later seen to be limping.
PUB and the Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (ACRES) had sought more information on the identity of the man on Thursday, with the latter posting a photo of the man on Facebook.
Founder of the animal welfare group Louis Ng said the man identified himself to the police within a day.
“Within 24 hours, he went forward to say that he was the man in the viral video. That’s something positive on his part,” Mr Ng told TODAY. “This incident turned out to be good because one person did something wrong and a whole lot of Singaporeans voiced out that they don’t condone the act.”
As of 6pm, the video of the angler has garnered close to 73,000 views on YouTube, while ACRES’ Facebook post had garnered more than 1,800 shares.
Those caught fishing at no-fishing areas — waterways included — may be fined up to S$3,000.
A follow-up video by Fast Snail on the otters showed that the fishing line on the pup had fallen off, and it appeared to have recovered.