As urban spaces expand, how can residents coexist with animals in their natural habitats?
In Singapore’s pursuit to be a “City in Nature,” human-wildlife conflicts have become increasingly common. Recently, residents in Punggol voiced concerns over the growing presence of long-tailed macaques. Since moving to Ponggol Twenty-Fourth Avenue in November 2023, Gordon Hoo and his neighbors have experienced issues with monkeys damaging plants, stealing food, and causing general disruption.
Such complaints are not isolated. From 2020 to 2023, the National Parks Board (NParks) received around 8,400 wildlife-related reports annually, involving various animals like monkeys, snakes, civets, and monitor lizards. As Singapore continues to develop, wildlife is increasingly being displaced from its natural habitats, bringing them closer to urban areas.
Feeding wildlife, whether intentional or not, plays a significant role in attracting animals to human-populated areas. For example, in Punggol, beachgoers leaving food behind has contributed to the macaques’ presence. Experts warn that this alters the animals’ natural foraging behavior, making them dependent on human-provided food.
NParks is working on several measures to mitigate these conflicts, including redirecting monkeys from residential areas back into the forest, sterilizing populations for long-term control, and removing fruit trees from high-traffic areas. However, experts stress that the solution lies in humans being more conscious of their impact on wildlife, particularly through not feeding animals and reporting incidents to the authorities.
Educational initiatives, such as those by the Nature Society (Singapore), aim to foster greater understanding and tolerance of wildlife. These efforts encourage children to learn about nature, helping cultivate a future where both wildlife and humans can live harmoniously. As residents like Mr. Hoo point out, wildlife, like owls, can offer ecological benefits, such as controlling the rat population, if people adopt a more positive, coexistence-focused mindset.
