Night duty with Singapore's wildlife rescuers

Sara Ann K, Multimedia Journalist, RazorTV
Straits Times 20 Jan 12;

Charlene Tan, 31, and Anbarasi Boopal (Anbu), 28, average just 1.6m in height, but that has not deterred either of them from wrestling with animals like pythons and wild boars. The girls are live-in residents at Acres (Animal Concerns Research & Education Society), which has a 24-hour emergency hotline for members of the public to call and report wildlife rescue or crime. They work from 9.30am to 5pm daily, but sometimes pull a 36-hour day when they cover the night shift as well - sometimes up to three times a week. But the night duty shifts can invariably be rather dramatic.

'Pythons especially, sometimes regurgitate as a defence mechanism,' says Ms Anbu almost apologetically, in defence of the animal she once rescued. The 28-year-old who holds dual posts in Acres as the Director of Acres Wildlife Rescue Centre (AWRC) as well as the Director of the Acres Wildlife Crime Unit, once had a reticulated python regurgitate all over her, a rescue mission she recalls as her most memorable to date.

But, it is all worth it, claim the girls. RazorTV spent a night on duty with them, where the girls shared their tales of some of the weird and wonderful creatures they have rescued.