Welcome back to my blog!

Before I continue with my survey results, I would like to share with you an opinion piece that I found earlier this year. This opinion piece was written by the President of the Nature Society of Singapore who expressed his displeasure for wild boar hunting workshops offered by a certain company. Before reading it, I did not know that there was hunting of wildlife in Singapore. This piece opened my eyes and made me wonder whether Singapore residents are approving of hunting. If there are workshops that teach people how to hunt in Singapore, there must be a demand for it.

In my survey, I asked what are their thoughts and feelings on hunting Singapore wildlife. I left this question as an open-ended question with the option of skipping this question. I had a total of  89 responses.

Survey Results

 

 Unaware/ Neutral

Unaware there is hunting in Singapore -> 2 (2%)

Neutral/ No feeling -> 7 (8%)

Approving (23%)

It’s ok -> 6 (7%)

It’s ok with conditions->  13 (15%)

Disapproving (67%)

No -> 11 (12%)

Hunting is bad -> 10 (11%)

Hunting is Unnecessary-> 8 (9%)

Hunting should not be legal -> 11 (12%)

Animals should be protected -> 7 (8%)

Animals should be left alone -> 3 (3%)

Feel sad -> 5 (6%)

Love animals ->2 (2%)

There are other method to control the population->4 (4%)

Survey Analysis

About ⅕ of my survey recipients are ok with the hunting of Singapore wildlife.

Some responses that stuck with me are:

• Good Hobby
• It’s ok to hunt

However, about two thirds of those approving are only ok with hunting if a certain criteria is met. If not, most of them are actually disapproving of hunting. 

Some of the conditions given are :

• “… if they are a nuisance”

• “… unless they are pests”
• “… to control their population”
• “… unless it is necessary”
• “Hell no, unless someone is about to get harm”

These respondents are more balanced and took a more anthropogenic approach towards the issue of hunting in Singapore. They would try their best to conserve wildlife but at the end of the day, if the wildlife pose some kind of threat to the safety or human’s way of life, they would allow for the hunting of the specific wildlife that is causing the threat 

For those that are disapproving, I could sense a strong passion from this respondents, with some capitalising their response e.g. Should be BANNED. Others describe hunting as “inhumane” and “cruel” (which I categorised these responses under ‘Hunting is bad’). Some responses under ‘Hunting is Unnecessary’ give reasons such as Singapore does not rely on wildlife for food and not many animals pose a predatory threat to Singapore. Those that express sadness said that Singapore’s wildlife is like “family” and are “precious”. Other interesting responses include, “animals also deserved their habitat” and “ animals should be relocated instead”

Overall, although I do agree with many of those that are disapproving of hunting, I mostly agree with the anthropogenic view that we should try our best to conserve wildlife in Singapore. With that said, I do find it difficult for us to draw a line between protecting Singapore’s wildlife and maintaining Singapore’s safety. 

 

References:

Lum, S. (2020, August 13). Forum: Why is hunting of wildlife in nature reserve being promoted? Strait Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/forum/forum-why-is-hunting-of-wildlife-in-nature-reserve-being-promoted