Latest news with #Punggol
CNA
a day ago
- General
- CNA
Installing grilles, keeping trash covered: Punggol residents find ways to keep nuisance monkeys at bay
Madam Chew Cheow Tee, 72, has yet to move into her new Punggol apartment at block 442B Punggol Point Cove but she has already requested a contractor to install monkey-proof grilles as a precaution. 'I watched videos and the news about monkeys climbing the buildings. I found them very scary and am afraid that monkeys could come in to steal my food if I just leave them on the table, then it would already be too late,' she said. So prevalent is the wild monkey problem in the Punggol area, that residents like Mdm Chew who have yet to move in are prepping themselves to deal with these creatures. Meanwhile, residents who are already in the thick of things have started banding together to keep each other updated on monkey business in their neighbourhood. Over at the blocks at Waterway Sunrise near Punggol Drive, when a resident spots a long-tailed macaque scaling the walls of a block, they take a photo and circulate it with an alert on a Telegram chatgroup. Neighbours then take relevant preventive measures such as closing their windows or bringing their rubbish bins at their service yards further into their homes to prevent the macaques from entering their properties. Sales assistant Cindy Tan, 52, who just moved into her new home at the first floor of flats at block 445B at Punggol Point Cove in May however, does not rely on the alerts from the group. She keeps her windows closed all the time even though it makes the living room hot and stuffy as it is a necessary measure to keep her daughter safe. 'If my husband and I are not around, and if the monkeys come, my special needs daughter will scream and might get hurt. She has problems with her speech and might not know what to do with the monkeys,' she said. CNA TODAY spoke to 16 residents in the area who have all had nuisance encounters with monkeys, which included eggs stolen from their dining table, oranges plucked from their religious altars and homegrown fruits grabbed off balcony plants. Needless to say, residents have been left frustrated with having to deal with the mess and inconvenience caused by the macaques. Food and beverage establishments in the area similarly have not been spared. At Southwest@Punggol Restaurant and Bar at The Punggol Settlement, staff have had to deal with monkeys not only scaring customers away by snatching their items or food but also with broken tableware and glasses. Once or twice a week, monkeys break glasses left unattended on the outdoor tables, leaving staff to deal with the shards. 'We need to replace every glass they break. That's why sometimes at night, we use plastic cups because the monkeys broke the glasses in the morning,' said Ms Jaz Delfino, 30, supervisor at the bar. Ms Delfino added that this comes at a cost to the restaurant and inconveniences the employees who have to clean up the mess. The National Parks Board (NParks) said that from January to May this year, they received 280 feedback cases related to macaques in Punggol, which is more than twice the number of reports received for the whole of last year. The feedback they received included include sightings, intrusions into homes and rummaging of rubbish bins. MINIMISING DAMAGE To minimise the damage caused by these creatures, more residents are turning to protective barriers. Window grilles company, Diamond Grille Systems, for example said that requests for their monkey-proof design have increased by three to four times since the start of 2025. While the company did not give details on how many orders it received, it said it saw particularly large demand from residents at Punggol Point Cove, a new estate, as homeowners started to collect their keys to their completed build-to-order flats from January 2024. Mr Javen Tan, 44, general manager of Diamond Grille Systems, said: 'Three years ago, our company already forecasted this problem. We knew there were issues at Punggol Northshore, as well as at the Punggol settlement area. 'So at that time, we did research and development at Coney Island to understand the characteristics of monkeys to identify what type of application can physically keep them off.' The wires of their grilles are vertical instead of horizontal, resembling the design of cages in zoos, which means that there is less chance of the monkeys climbing and hanging off the grilles. Mr Tan said the wires are also made of a special type of stainless steel, which is strong enough to resist animals trying to bite through the material. So far, he said, the feedback has been positive and customers have sent him videos of monkeys trying and failing to enter their homes after the grilles prevented their entry. CULLING EXERCISES, TRAINING TO DEAL WITH MONKEYS In response to queries by CNA TODAY, Member of Parliament for Punggol GRC Gan Kim Yong, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said that the town council was working closely with NParks on a series of measures including advisory posters, more frequent estate cleaning and exploring the deployment of more monkey-proof bins. NParks said that it's also been carrying out a sterilisation programme for the monkeys since 2023. After sterilisation, the monkeys were released back into Coney Island but those that were deemed too aggressive were culled. 'As native fruit-bearing trees are natural sources of food for the macaques, NParks has carried out habitat enforcement efforts at Coney Island Park by planting more native fruiting species,' said NParks' group director of wildlife management How Choon Beng. He added that they are also speaking to the Town Council to recommend increasing the frequency of state cleaning and launching monkey-proof bin designs. Monkey-proof bins include those with locks, heavier lids, or step pedals to open the bins. NParks, he said also, has regular monkey guarding patrols to herd the troop back into forested areas and offer training courses on wildlife management to residents or workers in the area. Some participants of NParks' monkey guarding training include the campus housekeeping team and food court operators at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)'s Punggol Campus. The training encompasses basic monkey deterrence measures like hitting a stick on the floor so that the loud noise scares the monkeys away on campus and in food courts. Animal protection charities such as the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), Jane Goodall Institute Singapore and Our Wildlife Neighbours also help out with public outreach efforts. On Jun 8, they set up a booth at the Coney Island Bridge, handing out flyers to residents and park goers that explain macaque behaviour and steps they should take when encountering the monkeys. Acres' chief executive Kalaivanan Balakrishnan said it is 'vital to uphold compassion as a foundational principle', focusing on the humane treatment of animals. He added that waiting to respond only after 'negative events', such as human-wildlife conflicts, undermines long-term environmental resilience. WHAT IS THE SITUATION AT OTHER MONKEY HOTSPOTS? Punggol is not the first area to have been affected by wild monkeys. Over the last decade, other monkey hotspots included Segar Road in Bukit Panjang and areas near the MacRitchie Nature Reserve, such as private estates in Bukit Timah and Upper Thomson Road. Residents in some of these areas continue to deal with monkeys daily. Licensed cat breeder Christopher Choy, 39, who lives in Upper Bukit Timah, said that he has encountered troops of macaques during his morning walks and sometimes they raid his backyard trees for fruit. 'My neighbours have complained and put up anti-monkey netting at their windows, fruit trees and ponds to stop them from entering the house. They also set up ultrasonic monkey repellent devices in the backyard to deter them,' said Mr Choy. A search by CNA TODAY on the e-commerce platform Shopee found advertisements of these devices labelled with promises in bold like 'No monkeys for 100 years!' on sale for about S$16 to S$22. Member of Parliament for Bukit Panjang SMC, Mr Liang Eng Hwa, who oversaw an incident in 2017 where monkeys were harassing residents at Segar said that he had a town hall to discuss the matter with affected residents then. Segar Residents' Committee helped to set up a WhatsApp chat group with Mr Liang and the residents to report appearances of the monkey. The issue was then resolved in two to three weeks after the monkeys were captured. 'We wanted to be responsive. And then whenever someone sighted a monkey, Acres would be able to go there quickly,' he said. He highlighted that Singapore has a couple of housing estates 'right at the doorstep' of nature reserves, which is the case for his ward Bukit Panjang, so it is natural that residents have to learn to coexist with them. 'There will be some of this wildlife that will come out from time to time. Some of them are transient, they come and then they leave. But let's say they stay around, and they start to go into homes, then we alert NParks,' he said. ONE PERSON'S ACTIONS CAN WRECK HAVOC FOR A WHOLE BLOCK Dr Andie Ang, who is head of primate conservation and Singapore programmes at Mandai Nature, said feeding wildlife is partly to blame for monkey home invasions and that all it takes is one person to wreak havoc on a whole block. The primatologist said that if a resident flings rice grains from a window to feed pigeons, for example, other wildlife, including monkeys, would climb towards that unit when they see food coming out. 'It's not just one monkey, but a troop. The alpha might go to the place that throws the food out, but the rest can then explore the neighbouring units. 'That's when the neighbours can complain and say 'I didn't do anything but the monkeys came to my house', not knowing that people around them might be doing things that they shouldn't be doing and so that is collateral damage to the rest,' said Dr Ang. She also said that rubbish bins that are not monkey-proof are like 'free vending machines' that are always there, consistently providing food and leading to 'unintentional feeding'. Overall, she said that there is a lack of awareness about the consequences of feeding wildlife. This means that 'a lot of education' needs to be put into place. She added that when people feed monkeys, they are giving the creatures "extra resources" outside of their natural habitat. As a result, they reproduce at a faster rate than their environment can support and they also lose their natural fear of humans and start to approach humans more. She has seen families giving food to crows, pigeons and turtles, which in turn attracts monkeys. She said that parents believe this is a way for their children to interact with wildlife. 'When we talk to some parents about how we shouldn't be feeding, the parents said, 'oh, it's just vegetables, it's natural food, it's not biscuits'. They don't understand that it's not about what you feed, it's the feeding itself.'
Malay Mail
4 days ago
- Malay Mail
Singapore man jailed seven months for sexual act with 14-year-old girl arranged by teens
SINGAPORE, June 24 — A 29-year-old man was sentenced to seven months' jail today for engaging in a sexual act with a 14-year-old girl arranged by two teenage boys. Terrance Teo Jian Xiang pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual activity with a minor under 16, according to a report published today in Channel News Asia. He is one of three men charged over offences involving the same girl in early July 2024. The other accused — Goh Shao Heng, 24, and Yong Eak Chung, 28 — are expected to plead guilty next month. The victim, along with two 16-year-old boys referred to as A1 and A2 in court documents, cannot be named due to a gag order. Deputy Public Prosecutor Melissa Heng said the victim, who lived in a girls' home, met A1 on Instagram. On July 4, 2024, after school, she did not return to the home and instead asked A1 for shelter. A1 allegedly told her he could arrange accommodation — but only if she provided sexual services to men. Feeling she had no choice, she agreed. A1 then introduced her to A2, who advertised her services in a Telegram chat group called 'Watermelon'. The next day, Teo posted in the group seeking such services. A1 or A2 responded, arranging a S$200 (RM665) transaction. Teo went to a Punggol HDB block staircase landing as instructed. When the victim arrived, she asked if he was sent by 'the boss', to which Teo replied yes. After paying via PayNow to an account linked to A2, Teo engaged in a sexual act with the girl, who had set a two-minute timer. Teo later complained to A1 or A2 about the short duration before their chat was deleted. Arrested on August 29, 2024, Teo did not ask the victim's age or check her identification. Prosecutors sought eight months' jail, while Teo's lawyer Zheng Yirong argued for no more than five, claiming Teo believed the girl was of legal age. In Singapore, sex with a minor carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail, a fine, or both.
CNA
20-06-2025
- CNA
FAQ: Hit an animal while driving on Singapore roads? Here's what you should do
SINGAPORE: A recent spate of community cat deaths sparked public outcry, but the National Parks Board (NParks) said in early June that there is no evidence to suggest these cases involved deliberate acts of animal cruelty. The two community cat deaths in Yishun and Punggol were instead likely caused by vehicle accidents, NParks concluded, while another cat found dead at a void deck in Tampines was the result of a traffic incident. CNA gives the lowdown on what you should do if you happen to hit an animal while driving and your obligations. Can you continue driving? According to the Road Traffic Act, motorists must stop if their vehicles caused injury or death to any animal as long as they can "reasonably tell" that the animal has an owner or that the animal's presence on the road is "likely to pose any safety hazard" to other road users. All animal species are covered under the Act. In response to CNA's queries, NParks advised motorists to drive with caution in residential and forested areas, and to drive within speed limits or reduce their speed. They should also be alert to the crossing of animals when driving in such areas and along roads flanked by forested areas, especially where there are signs to indicate animal crossings, it added. What should you do upon colliding with an animal? Traffic police (TP) told CNA that motorists who have hit an animal while driving should stop their vehicle in a safe location and turn on the hazard lights to alert other drivers. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said that the relevant authorities should be contacted, depending on the animal's well-being. They are: Motorists who are unsure if the animal is dead or alive can take a video and forward it to ACRES, said a spokesperson, adding that they should avoid touching or handling the animal, and to wait for ACRES' advice. If the animal is dead, the National Environment Agency (NEA) should be contacted at 1800 2255 632 for removal of the carcass. An NEA spokesperson said that the agency is responsible for clearing animal carcasses in public areas, excluding estates maintained by town councils, in the interest of public health. If the accident has caused obstruction to traffic or if the presence of the animal on the road is likely to endanger road users, the police must be immediately informed and reasonable steps have to be taken to alert others of the obstruction. What if the accident is serious? According to SPCA, if the accident has led to death or serious injury to a human, or resulted in serious damage to a vehicle or structure, the vehicles involved and any evidence must not be moved unless directed by the police. The only exceptions are if it is needed to rescue the people or animals involved, or to prevent further hazards. In such cases, the vehicle or its parts may be moved only as far as it is needed. "The motorist should capture potential evidence by taking clear photos and videos with timestamps, and by documenting the exact address of the location," said Ms Aarthi Sankar, executive director of the SPCA. How common are road accidents involving animals? Ms Sankar said that in 2024, SPCA investigated 15 hit-and-run cases involving animals. However, she noted that that figure is "only a subset" of the cases, as some are reported to other animal welfare organisations, while others go unreported or unnoticed. SPCA added it could not provide data on other years. In 2024, at least two sambar deer died on the roads, while wildlife groups have also noticed an 'exponential increase' in reported roadkill of the critically endangered Sunda pangolins in recent years. Mandai Wildlife Group's animal hospital, for instance, saw more than 40 pangolins killed or injured on average in a year between 2021 and 2023, up from around 20 annually between 2015 and 2020. A spokesperson for NEA said that over the past three years, it has received an average of 1,700 public feedback annually on dead animals and birds sighted. Members of the public are advised to report any sightings of animal carcasses via the myENV or OneService app. How can you tell if the animal is a road hazard? There is no specific size criterion to determine if an animal constitutes a road hazard, said TP. "Motorists should consider factors, such as traffic volume, the position of the animal on the road, and the road speed limit. If the animal obstructs any part of the road or may force other road users to make evasive manoeuvres or sudden braking, the animal should be moved but only if it is safe to do so." Should you move the animal if it is obstructing traffic? If the injured animal or carcass is in a position where it poses a safety hazard to other road users, motorists may move it to a safe location if it is safe to do so, said TP. Otherwise, motorists may call the police for assistance. However, you should not try to touch or handle certain animals, according to ACRES. "Animals like wild pigs, otters and sambar deers who are injured can be defensive and scared and we suggest for (the) public not to handle them," it said, adding that motorists can contact the society or NParks for assistance and advice. What if the animal appears to be a pet? In cases where the animal is likely to be a pet, motorists must take reasonable steps to inform its owner of the accident, said NParks. The agency added that drivers should take note of whether the animal has any collars, tags or other identifying features, and if possible, capture clear photographs. The information should then be sent to NParks, so that the agency can help reunite the animal with its owner or caregiver. Those driving should also take note of the location of the accident, said ACRES, adding that they can also post on Facebook pages which are focused on lost and found pets.
Independent Singapore
12-06-2025
- Independent Singapore
Tada driver calls police after drunk passenger vomits in car and refuses to pay cleaning fee
SINGAPORE: A Tada driver has lodged a police complaint after a passenger vomited in her vehicle and refused to pay for the cleaning charges incurred, despite the platform's guidelines requiring riders to compensate for such incidents. Speaking to Stomp, the driver said the incident took place in the early hours of May 31. She had picked up the passenger at 1.52am outside Forum The Shopping Mall on Orchard Road. The destination was Edgefield Plains in Punggol. Upon reaching the drop-off point, the passenger, who appeared intoxicated, allegedly vomited on the floor mat of the car. The driver shared photos with Stomp showing the mess left behind, as well as an image of the passenger seated on a bench at the Housing Board estate after the ride. 'I called the police on the spot,' the driver said, 'and two policemen attended to the case, but they were unable to get him to make the payment either.' According to the driver, she took the car for cleaning later that same day at a Caltex station along MacPherson Road. The professional cleaning cost her $70 — a significant loss compared to the $25.80 she had earned from the trip. On June 5, the driver filed a formal police report. The report read: 'Passenger was drunk and vomited in my car and refused to pay for the cleaning fees… Tada advised me to make a police report so that they can reimburse me for the cleaning fees.' She later shared a screenshot of an email she received from Tada on June 9, which stated: 'We understand that the passenger remains unresponsive despite the best efforts of Tada to recover the amount for the cleaning fee. However, in view of your support towards our platform, we would, on a goodwill basis, reimburse 50 per cent of the cleaning fee to you.' Expressing her frustration, the driver told Stomp, 'Police report made, but Tada can only reimburse 50 per cent of the cleaning fees.' According to the Tada Driver-Partners Community Guidelines, passengers are required to pay $70 if they cause permanent or semi-permanent stains or odours, such as from vomiting, that necessitate professional cleaning. The policy advises drivers to collect the fee directly or submit a cleaning receipt to Tada within 48 hours if the rider fails to pay. Tada would then attempt to recover the payment, during which the rider would be temporarily barred from making new bookings. In this case, the driver followed protocol, including providing a receipt and making a police report, but was still left to bear half the cleaning cost.
Independent Singapore
12-06-2025
- Health
- Independent Singapore
17-year-old girl rescued from ledge at Punggol carpark and taken to hospital
YT screencapture SINGAPORE: A 17-year-old girl was rescued and apprehended by the authorities after she was found standing on a ledge of a multi-storey carpark in Punggol in the early hours of Tuesday (June 10). The Singapore Police Force confirmed that officers were alerted to the incident at around 2.15am at Block 628 Edgedale Plains. The girl was apprehended under Section 7 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act 2008 and was conscious when she was taken to the hospital. Photos shared with Stomp by an eyewitness showed safety netting deployed along the side of the carpark. The witness, who had spotted the emergency operation unfolding from a distance, said: 'If I'm not wrong, it was a teenager.' The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), which received a call for assistance at 2.20am, said a person was seen standing on a ledge when responders arrived at the scene. In response, SCDF deployed two safety life packs and rescue nets as a precaution. See also Ant allegedly found "swimming" in crayfish bee hoon soup Specially trained Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) officers were then activated. Rappelling from a unit above, they successfully reached and secured the girl. She was subsequently conveyed to Sengkang General Hospital by SCDF. Investigations are ongoing. If you or someone you know is struggling with emotional or mental health issues, help is available. Mental health helplines Institute of Mental Health's Mental Health Helpline: 6389-2222 (24 hours) Samaritans of Singapore: 1-767 (24 hours) / 9151-1767 (24-hour CareText via WhatsApp) Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-283-7019 Silver Ribbon Singapore: 6386-1928 Tinkle Friend (for children): 1800-274-4788 Chat, Centre of Excellence for Youth Mental Health: 6493-6500/1 Women's Helpline (Aware): 1800-777-5555 (weekdays, 10 a.m to 6 p.m.) Counselling helplines Touchline (Counselling): 1800-377-2252 Touch Care Line (for caregivers): 6804-6555 Care Corner Counselling Centre: 6353-1180 Counselling and Care Centre: 6536-6366 We Care Community Services: 3165-8017 Online resources If you are in distress or know someone who needs support, do not hesitate to reach out. You are not alone.
