Stacey Chia Straits Times 23 Jun 12;
A WILD boar believed to be from the Lower Peirce area yesterday wandered into Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, where it charged at a security guard and a boy aged five.
It was later put down with a dart gun.
The guard, Mr Arnold Rodriguese, 36, hurt his right hand.
The unnamed boy, who was butted from behind, fell and landed a metre away, but was not seriously injured, said Mr Wong Tuan Wah, director of conservation at the National Parks Board (NParks).
He added that a second boar was spotted by NParks staff running back towards the Lower Peirce area.
Mr Rodriguese, who is from security company Certis Cisco, was on duty with two colleagues at the park's Pond Gardens at around 8.30am when he saw the boar.
A Certis Cisco spokesman, responding to questions from The Straits Times via e-mail, said its officers had reported this to NParks and national water agency PUB.
But just as an NParks officer arrived at the scene, the boar charged at Mr Rodriguese, said the Certis Cisco spokesman.
Right after that, the boar headed for the boy, who was near the playground.
The incident comes a week after NParks' announcement about the need to manage the wild boar population here on the back of a rise in its numbers.
A debate then ensued about the wisdom of culling the animals, with animal activist groups such as the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society against it.
The Nature Society and two university professors, backing NParks, said the boars posed a danger to the regeneration of the forests here because of their tendency to eat the seeds of primary forests.
Mr Wong said: 'This morning's incident underscores the urgency of managing the wild boar population. We cannot wait for a more serious incident to happen before taking action.'
He said that yesterday's incident was not an isolated one.
Other human-boar run-ins have been reported, including collisions with vehicles and a pet dog being mauled to death.
As a single female boar can produce four to eight piglets a year, the population of boars in Lower Peirce could double by the end of the year, said NParks.
Mr Wong said NParks was in talks with Wildlife Reserves Singapore, government agencies and nature and animal welfare groups on managing the boar population.
The forested area in Lower Pierce is home to an estimated 100 boars.
Mr Tony O'Dempsey, who chairs the Nature Society's Vertebrate Study Group, said boars are not aggressive by nature, but all wild animals will attack if provoked.
'From the animal's point of view, it may think it is cornered, even though you may not know you are cornering it,' he said.
Mr Ong Say Lin, 25, a biology graduate from the National University of Singapore who studied wild boars, said he was surprised by yesterday's incident.
'Wild boars usually evade people, but in a few rare instances, are quite comfortable with people,' he said.
An NParks spokesman said signs have since been put up around the park reminding the public to stay away from wild boars and not to feed them or use flash photography.
Wild boars spotted at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park
Tan Qiuyi Channel NewsAsia 22 Jun 12;
SINGAPORE: Two wild boars spotted in Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park on Friday morning triggered off more than three hours of operation by the authorities to hunt them down.
The National Parks Board (NParks) says one boar had charged at a security officer and a child.
The five-year-old was knocked off his feet from behind, and landed about a metre away. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.
Authorities say the two wild boars wandered into the park early in the morning.
One dashed off into the nature reserve of Lower Pierce when officers arrived. The other remained, and hid in a bush.
Men, including those from a local pest control company, worked to lure the animal out.
Eventually, just before 3pm, officers from the Wildlife Reserves (Singapore) shot the boar with a dart gun.
MediaCorp understands the boar has been put down.
Ong Say Lin, Researcher at the National University of Singapore, said: "I can say that yes, their distribution is more extensive than expected. One of the hypotheses is that they have been swimming over from Johor Bahru, or Pulau Tekong and Pulau Ubin. Those are very likely sources of the wild boar migration.
"Also, right now wild boars, we can see them at the West Coast, East Coast, at Pasir Ris, Changi and the Jurong area and also in the north. So it's very likely they are coming from the northern islands and Malaysia."
NParks says wild boar numbers at Lower Pierce have grown beyond what's ecologically sustainable.
And their appearance at Bishan Park is another reason why they will have to take urgent action to control the population.
But some residents at Old Upper Thomson Road, right next to the nature reserve and its wildlife, say the pigs are part of the charm of the neighbourhood.
"They've never been an issue to us. They usually appear late at night, or during evening time, and they're very shy of people."
"Culling seems a bit drastic, and kind of, permanent?"
Blogging on the issue, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan backs NParks' decision to cull the animals.
He said the wild boar population needs to be managed and re-homing them is, unfortunately, not an option.
- CNA/wk/de