wetlands
a publication of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
Vol 10 No 3
VIP Guests
Community Involvement Programme by Jurong West Secondary School

Photographing Nature Workshop forCommonwealth Secondary School

Experiencing Life in the Mangroves with the Canadian International School (Singapore)

Doing what they do best for a good cause: Hillgrove Secondary School

Volunteers Conduct Heron Counts at Sungei Buloh

13th International Coastal Cleanup

Wild Boar Sightings

An ASEAN Experience: Conference on ASEAN Heritage Parks

Volunteer Outing to Pulau Kukup and Yong Peng Heronry

Young Hearts for Nature: Young Naturalist Passport Camp 		 
Wild Boar Sightings
at Sungei Buloh
Jeremy Ang
conservation officer

A family of wild boars was sighted on 17th September this year at about 10.30am near Gate B by the freshwater ponds. The family consisted of one female and four juveniles. Since the encounter was an absolute surprise, the adult female hastily led her young ones back to the safety of some bushes. Thus, the only photograph that we have was of them running away to the bushes. Nonetheless, it is wonderful to know that wild boars are breeding in the vicinity of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

Apart from this encounter, we had a friendly young wild boar, affectionately named “Charlie”. Charlie enjoyed going through merry rounds in our visitor carpark chasing after vehicles, rolling in mud pools that he dug for himself, sniffing and digging vegetated areas for food and lazing in the shade during hot humid afternoons.



Charlie

Whenever Charlie was at the visitor carpark, he established ‘public relations’ with both staff and visitors, making himself a “mascot” fo SBWR.

However as time passed, Charlie grew bigger and became quite a handful. He was caught chewing off young plant seedlings in our plant nursery, rubbing mud on vehicles and getting a bit too close to visitors for their comfort, especially to young children. We were concerned that there were signs of poachers trying to trap him too. Once he had a nasty cut on one of his hind legs, presumably sustained from a poacher, and another time a wire noose was found looped to his upper jaw.

Due to all these issues, the management decided to translocate Charlie into the reserve where he will be protected and possibly find a mate and start his own family.

Charlie since then, has been safely translocated from the visitor carpark into the reserve. We conducted checks and found him adapting well. Hopefully, in the near future, we can see him and his offsprings roaming in the reserve. For now, if you are ever approached by a friendly male wild boar while hiking in the reserve, chances are he might be Charlie.
   
© Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve