Life's a boar for this Pulau Ubin resident

ST Forum Page, 02 Jul 2005

Compared to the pampered and healthy animals in the Singapore Zoo, the boar was like an abandoned old person.

The owner, who was smoking and looking very impatiently at all the
visitors, said in Hokkien: 'I really don't know what to do with this animal. The Government also doesn't want him. Worse still, the Government doesn't allow me to collect money when tourists come to look at him. Now I have no money to buy food for him. But even if I had, I don't think I'd let him eat anything because his faeces are so smelly that I can't tolerate it anymore. I think I will let him starve to death. Or I will just throw a few coconuts to him.'

From what I overheard, it seems that the owner had previously collected money from visitors who had photographs taken with the wild boar until the Government put a stop to it.

I took a few photographs of the poor boar and walked away with a very heavy heart, thinking that even putting him to sleep would be kinder than letting him starve to death.

I hope the authorities can do something soon before the poor boar dies of starvation.

Susannah Low Xiao Rong (Mdm)