SINGAPORE — Local icon or threat to fish owners? Singapore’s river otter may be a sight to some, but certainly not to this homeowner. It comes after her residence was targeted for the second time in three years.
At around 7am on Wednesday, January 17, eight otters attacked an arowana at the fishpond of Tam Yuen Yin’s residence in Bukit Timah. Of the 16 fish, each valued at at least $1,000, only six survived the ordeal.
The otter first entered her home in 2022 and attacked the 40-odd koi the family owned. Some of the carp had been with her for more than 15 years and were worth about $20,000 in total. And at that time, she said, her family would never keep fish again.
However, last March, I decided to try again, this time with arowana.
“We chose arowana because it has a lot of bones, and we thought otters wouldn’t like it,” Tam told Shinmin Daily.
But that didn’t stop the otter. The perpetrators were captured by the family’s helpers, but she did not dare to approach them and the otters fled.
Photos shared on Facebook show fish being left carelessly around ponds and even in the hallways of houses by otters.
“It is very heartbreaking to see our innocent fish killed for fun. None of them were eaten. ,” Tam wrote.
Otter incidents are not uncommon in Singapore.
In addition to eating fish, Singapore’s otters have also bitten several people, including assaulting a British man in a botanical garden, and stopped traffic when they tried to cross Orchard Road.
In 2022, the National Parks Board announced that Singapore’s otter population has increased to about 170 individuals across the island, which may lead to relocation or sterilization of the otters in the long term.
It also encourages homeowners to protect themselves and their property from potential otter attacks by identifying potential entry points, such as 10cm gaps under fences and gates, and blocking them. We advise you to protect. Fish owners can also fence their ponds and cover them with netting or panels.
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