SINGAPORE — Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) today (Feb 3) urged the public not to buy illegal pets, saying that it receives “hundreds of illegal pets” every year, some of them left on its doorstep.

In a Facebook post today, WRS, which manages the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, River Safari and Jurong Bird Park, said bags containing caged animals were abandoned at the Night Safari service gate recently. Sharing pictures on the page, it said the animals include prairie dogs, marmosets and cotton-top tamarins, which are critically endangered.

“They were probably meant for the illegal-pet trade, but something must have gone wrong and the perpetrators decided to dump the animals. Each year, hundreds of illegal pets arrive on our doorstep in this manner or as confiscations,” WRS said.

Noting it was a challenge for the parks to take in all the animals given “limited space and resources”, WRS said: “You can help by simply not buying illegal pets. If there is no demand, poaching will stop.”

According to the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), there were 26 cases involving illegal pets — such as illegal imports, and illegal possession and sales — as of Dec 21 last year.

It is an offence to import and export or re-export any animal without a permit from AVA. It is also an offence for any person to have in possession, or to sell or advertise, any wildlife and its parts or products, which have been illegally imported or acquired. Penalties include fines of up to S$50,000 per animal — not exceeding an aggregate of S$500,000 — or a jail term of up to two years, or both.

From 2013 to December last year, the AVA successfully prosecuted nine individuals involved in the illegal import or transhipment of a variety of wildlife species and parts such as rhinoceros horns, elephant ivory, marine turtle scutes and black pond turtles. Offenders were accorded fines of up to S$10,000 and a jail term of up to 16 months.