Daily Lessons from Life 22 June 2012 - Wild boars attacking humans, need to be managed: Khaw

"Wild boars attacking humans, need to be managed: Khaw - AsiaOne Jun 22, 2012

SINGAPORE - This morning, two wild boars charged at a CISCO security guard and a child, wrote National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan on his blog on Friday.

The wild boars had wandered off into the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park from their home in Lower Peirce area. Luckily, both were not seriously injured. However, the incident serves to highlight the need for the wild boar population in Singapore to be managed, Mr Khaw wrote. Rehoming them, unfortunately, is not an option, he added.

Mr Khaw was speaking in response to a fierce debate brewing following NPark's decision to cull some of the wild boar population in the area.

The decision is being objected to by some residents and animal rights activists. However, NParks has maintained that the boars are eating valuable plant life and two boars once attacked and killed a pet dog.

"In a limited space of just over 700 sq km, it is a zero-sum game and we need to prioritise," he wrote. He noted that the ministry's priority is to protect Singaporean children, hence the need to act on wild animals occasionally.

"We will be as humane as we can, but the need to manage their population remains," he said.
In the post, he also mentioned the efforts taken to manage Singapore's stray dog population.

He said that while he appreciates the good intentions of animal rights activists who tried to disrupt the rounding up of such strays, he is more worried "about our children, who are defenceless in such adversity."

He said that animal lovers are invited to come forward and adopt the strays if they wish to express their compassion, rather than feeding them "indiscriminately and hindering efforts to manage the stray population.""

I am no animals hater but neither am I an animals right activist. There are timew when I honestly feel that the so-called animals right activists are a bunch of selfish and self-conceited human beings with totally misplaced passion.

If we are in Africa, I can understand the animals right well. In Singapore, a concrete jungle with one of the highest density of human being per sq. km, I just do not get it.

Lessons for me are:

1. if animals become a nuisance or a danger to human being, animals have to take a back seat. It is pragmatism vs. romanticism;

2. if animals right activists are very committed, they, as suggested by the minister, should come forward to house/feed/care for them at their own expenses since it gives them the greater joy and satisfaction. It is wrong, or not fair at bests, to let the majority to take care of this challenge when they in no way created it!;

3. as for this specific case, it is established, unless the animals right activists can prove to the contrary that the wild boars are NO threat to innocent and defenseless human beings, that the wild boars have attacked and injured someone and some other domesticated animals, there is no reason not to take action. Emotional responses will hinder rather than solve the root causes of this problem.

By the way, this applies to the cats lovers who are not around to help the cleaners clean up the smelly pooh pooh in HDB carparks.