In a Facebook post on Monday, Senior Minister of State for National Development Tan Kiat How said that residents have had a number of recent encounters with the otters in residential estates.
“While otters largely stay within the waterways, they may occasionally visit residential properties with ponds as the fish there are easy prey for them.
“NParks and the (Otter Working Group) have been working with residents and estate managers to implement measures to prevent otters from entering, such as meshing up gaps in gates and erecting otter-proof barriers for ponds. With these measures in place, the otters are likely to move on as they are unable to access the ponds for food,” Mr Tan said.
The Otter Working Group was formed in 2014 and includes the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, Mandai Wildlife Group, the National University of Singapore, NParks, OtterCity, OtterWatch, PAssion Wave and national water agency PUB.
In the cases of otters who establish holts – holes in the ground for resting and sleeping – in residential areas, NParks will work with the Otter Working Group to transfer the otters out, said Mr Tan.
“This is for the welfare of these otters and to mitigate any issues that could arise from human-wildlife encounters, such as when residents face incursions into their ponds.”
Touching on last week’s transfer operation in Seletar, he said the otters are currently being monitored at their new holt. Three adult otters and three pups were transferred to an undisclosed location in the first such transfer operation.
A representative of the Otter Working Group, Bernard Seah told the media on Monday that otters do not only stay in one holt nor do they just forage in one estate.
“Most (otter) families are transient and moving from point A to point B … they may come back to point A again but they are transient in that sense that they will move through their territory over and over again,” he added.