In July 2012, we were kindly alerted of a number of civet cases handled by ACRES. The different cases encountered include trapped civets, orphan baby civets, injured and sometimes dead civets.

In Singapore, the presence of these mammals has not always been celebrated despite them being our last wild native urban carnivores. Instead, traps are sometimes laid out by residents to capture the civets which are regarded as a nuisance. This is mainly due to the following reasons or a combination of them – civets feeding on their fruits, living in their roof spaces, making noise at night and/or defecating and urinating at their houses. Although these residents do not want to have civets around their houses, they do not want to harm them so they contact ACRES when the civets are caught.

Civet in a trap. Sometimes civets injure themselves by banging their noses against the cages in an attempt to escape. Photo by ACRES

For people living in close proximity to urban civets, sometimes you might get an unexpected house guest! ACRES was called in one day as a civet has ventured inside someone’s house. By the time they arrived, the civet has entered a pipe and only the tail was visible. Luckily for the civet, ACRES managed to rescue it and let it go!

Civet ventured into someone’s house. Photo by ACRES

Civet stuck in the pipe! Photo by ACRES

Another case where a civet was stuck in the toilet and rescued by ACRES! Wonder what it was doing in the toilet?

Civet rescued from the toilet! Photo by ACRES

Unfortunately, there are times when the animal is already seriously injured or dead when ACRES is notified. Road traffic is a threat to civets and many other animals such as the pangolin. This civet named Grape by ACRES was found dead at the entrance to PIE towards town on Upper Bukit Timah Road and its body was stiff when ACRES arrived. Its right eye and skull were damaged probably due to the impact by the oncoming car.

Grape the civet was found dead along Upper Bukit Timah Road.

There were also a few cases that involved rescuing baby civets that were lost. The baby will normally be left out at where it was found the same night and monitored to see if the mummy civet comes back for the baby. Baby civets are vulnerable as they do not have the ability to take care of themselves. It is thus important to feed, hydrate and keep the baby warm while having minimal human contact.

Baby civet rescued and brought to Night Safari for future rehabilitation. Photo by ACRES

This baby was left out at where it was found but there was no sign of the adult civet. By the third day, ACRES was called in to help and the baby was sent to Night Safari where it will be rehabilitated when it is older.

Thank you ACRES for your tireless effort on rescuing these wild animals in need and for involving us in your rescue efforts! One cannot help but wonder what the fate of these civets may be if help did not arrive in time. Special thanks to Anbu who keeps us updated on these civet cases! Hopefully, these civet stories will help to increase public awareness and change people’s attitude towards these beautiful animals!