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Wild boar caught after attacking Punggol resident, NParks officer

SINGAPORE — A wild boar that has been spotted roaming around the Punggol area has been caught, but not before injuring a resident and a National Parks Board (NParks) officer who was trying to help her.

The authorities set up a cordon along the waterway in Punggol to nab a wild boar on Feb 26, 2021.

The authorities set up a cordon along the waterway in Punggol to nab a wild boar on Feb 26, 2021.

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  • Someone spotted a wild boar near the Punggol Seas and Ecopolitan area
  • It was hiding in the bushes
  • A woman and an NParks officer were attacked while the authorities tried to capture it
  • It was eventually caught and euthanised

 

SINGAPORE — A wild boar that has been spotted roaming around the Punggol area has been caught, but not before injuring a resident and a National Parks Board (NParks) officer who was trying to help her.

Both of them were attended to for minor cuts. 

Ms Sun Xueling, Member of Parliament for Punggol West Single Member Constituency, put up a Facebook post on Friday (Feb 26) regarding the incident after receiving “many pictures” and messages from the public, she said.

“The wild boar has since been caught, please be assured as I know many of you have been very worried,” she added.

This is not the first wild boar attack in the Punggol area. Just last weekend, residents living around Punggol Walk and Punggol Waterway reported two separate incidents of wild boar attacks.

In the latest incident, Ms Sun said that the mammal was spotted by residents and motorists in the Punggol Seas and Ecopolitan area.

A cordon was then set up along the waterway, she said. 

The police, as well as NParks officers and contractors, were activated to search for the boar.

WHAT HAPPENED

Giving more details about the incident, Mr Tan Kiat How, Minister of State for National Development, said on Facebook that a member of the public had spotted the boar hiding in the bushes.

The police and NParks officers gave chase when the boar charged out of the bushes and that was when it attacked a woman, he said.

The animal had darted away from the officers and bit the NParks officer during the capture.

In the end, a resident helped to free the woman from the wild boar, Mr Tan said.

It was then euthanised “because of its aggressive behaviour”, he added.

NParks had deployed closed-circuit television cameras, camera traps and traps around the estate to locate the mammal.

The Housing and Development Board, as well as the Singapore Land Authority, have also put up structures around the remaining forest patches in the area to minimise the chances of wild boars roaming into the community, Mr Tan said.

“The team is continuing their surveillance of the area to ensure public safety.”

Wildlife experts told TODAY in recent interviews that the disruption of the boars’ habitats could be a reason why they have been driven out to the estates.

They also said that the wild boars could have attacked because they were frightened, disoriented or wanted food.

NParks officers similarly said that feeding wildlife — whether intentionally or through irresponsible discarding of food — is a key reason for such human and wildlife incidents, Mr Tan said in the Facebook post.

“Such feeding habituates wildlife to humans and increases the propensity for aggressive behaviour.”

Mr Tan said that since the Wildlife Act came into force in June last year, NParks has prosecuted about 20 wild boar feeders who were caught doing so at Lorong Halus.

“I appeal to everyone to be socially responsible and not feed the wild boars,” he said.

CLARIFICATION: In an earlier version of this story, we reported that a resident and an NParks officer who were attacked by the wild boar have been taken to hospital, based on Member of Parliament Sun Xueling's Facebook post. NParks has since clarified that they were not taken to hospital, but were attended to for minor cuts.

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NParks wild boar attack Punggol

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