Endangered pig-tailed macaque rehomed in M’sia after rescue from S’pore car workshop

SINGAPORE — An endangered pig-tailed macaque rescued from a car workshop in Singapore has been rehomed in Malaysia.

The macaque was found chained in a cage at a Defu Lane car workshop on May 6 by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), following a tip-off from the Animals Concerns Research & Education Society (ACRES).

It was then sent to the Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) for care and custody. The owner of the workshop, who had kept the macaque as a pet after it was found abandoned at his workshop, was fined S$500 by AVA for keeping the macaque.

Yesterday (Aug 23), the macaque was transported from the Singapore Zoo to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in Malaysia. It is currently being rehabilitated and quarantined at a Wildlife Rescue Centre, following which the authorities will assess its suitability to be released back into the wild, said ACRES, AVA and WRS in a joint statement today.

“AVA would like to remind the public not to import or keep wild animals, as doing so would perpetuate the exploitation of wild animals and fuel the growth of the illegal wildlife trade,” said the joint statement.

Ms Lye Fong Keng, Deputy Director, Quarantine & Inspection Group (Wildlife Section), AVA, said that wild animals are not suitable as pets because they may transmit zoonotic diseases to humans and pose a public safety risk if they escape into the Republic’s dense environment.

“Wild animals that are nonnative to Singapore may also pose a threat to our biodiversity by upsetting the ecological balance of nature,” said Ms Lye.

All macaques are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which is an international agreement to ensure that trade does not threaten wildlife species with extinction. The import and export of the pig-tailed macaque is regulated by CITES permits.

Under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act, possession of a CITES animal which has been imported without a permit is an offence. The offender may be fined up to S$50,000 per scheduled species (not exceeding an aggregate of S$500,000) and/or jailed up to two years.

It is also a violation of the Wild Animal & Birds Act to keep a wild animal without a licence from AVA. Offenders may be fined up to S$1,000 per wild animal or bird. The illegally acquired animals would be confiscated and forfeited by AVA.