Straits Times Forum 27 Jul 18;
The recent reports of roadkill incidents have been saddening (Rare deer put down after 3-vehicle accident, June 18; Pregnant wild boar killed in BKE accident involving 3 cars, June 23).
Losing a member of a species already under threat is a huge blow, and one too many for Singapore's sensitive wildlife.
The rise in the number of roadkill incidents is alarming, and is likely due to the construction works in the vicinity.
Efforts by Mandai Park Holdings (MPH) to mitigate roadkill should be lauded, but they are still clearly inadequate and ineffective.
MPH should also be transparent with its roadkill data, especially when it claims to be "closely monitoring wildlife road incidents within and around the project area" (Many measures in place to reduce wildlife road incidents; March 29).
Its claim that "there has not been an observable increase in roadkill incidents since work began on the Mandai Project" should also be backed up by hard data, which should be made publicly available.
Currently, there are neither incentives to motivate MPH to step up its mitigation efforts norany repercussions for roadkill incidents happening within the vicinity of the works.
There is an urgent need for regulatory measures to be imposed on MPH and future similar works for accountability.
Additionally, the construction of the eco-link bridge should commence as soon as possible.
I implore MPH to ramp up roadkill-mitigation measures, review its wildlife-shepherding techniques, and consider working with the Land Transport Authority to designate Mandai Lake Road as a car-lite zone, in order to best preserve what precious little wildlife is left in Singapore.
Neeraj Prabakharan
