Welcome to my blog! My name is Azhari and I am a year one Bachelor Of Environmental Studies (BES) student in NUS.

One thing you should know about me is that I love animals! When I was younger, I used to collect and play with animal figurines that I keep until today. I also enjoy watching wildlife documentaries.  

Recently, due to the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, most countries had a ”lockdown” to help stop the spread of the virus. BBC (2020) reported that the coronavirus lockdowns have allowed wildlife animals all around the world a unique chance to live almost without any human interactions. Just like how the saying goes, “ When the humans are away, the animals will come out and play”. Or at least that’s how I think it went.

 There are many examples of this including sightings of Nubian ibexes in Israel, wild goats in Wales, pumas in Chile, coyotes in the US and many more. ( South China Morning Post, 2020). Wait did Azhari just mention pumas and coyotes?  Animals perceived by some to be dangerous due to their carnivorous nature? Yes, I did. These people managed to experience wildlife just at their backyard.

Even Singapore was not an exception to this phenomenon. Cases such as snakes at Marsling MRT Station and a herd of wild boars at Pasir Ris were reported during the Circuit Breaker period (Clarke, 2020).

 I personally encountered a wild boar at the void deck of my HDB block as I was returning from buying groceries during the Circuit Breaker.

However, news of wildlife appearing in urban areas and roads in Singapore predates this pandemic. Tan (2017) reported that the number of cases of wildlife and human interactions is rising in Singapore.

This makes me wonder whether there has been a rise in the different wildlife populations in Singapore recently and if so, why.  Are all the varying species of animals increasing or is it just a select few? Are there any species of wildlife that are still under threat till this day?  An increase in wildlife animals could also mean more interactions with humans. Such interactions might not always be so amazing for everyone in Singapore. For example, Ms Low (2020) posted on her Facebook page that otters came in and ate all the fishes that were in the pond of a beauty and wellness property.

Through this blog journey, I would like to discover what the potential issues that may arise from these interactions and what Singaporeans have been doing about it to mitigate it. As someone who loves animals, I hope that we can find a common understanding of our wildlife neighbours and coexist harmoniously.

Reference :

BBC (2020, April 29) Coronavirus: Wild animals enjoy freedom of a quieter worldhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-52459487

South China Morning Post (2020, April 7) Wildlife comes out to play while humans stay locked away in cities amid coronavirus pandemic [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysGGIxxrwuk

Clarke, Elizabeth (2020, June 7)Commentary: The truth behind returning wildlife is less feel-good than you think. CNA https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/wildlife-sighting-boar-otter-nature-covronavirus-origin-forest-12802398

Tan, Audrey (2017, October 2020) Singapore, jungle city: Can humans and wild animals co-exist? Strait Times https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/singapore-jungle-city-can-humans-and-wild-animals-co-exist 

Low, Jazreel (2020, May 12) The otters killed all the fishes in the pond at aramsa spa. [Image attached][Status update] Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/jazreel.low/posts/10158772959193949