Netizen Finds Baby Civet Cat Near The Road, Adult Never Returned
For reasons unknown, more perculiar wildlife sightings have been reported in Singapore in the past few months.
Some of them have been of rare creatures like the cinereous vulture near Holland Road.
On Saturday (15 Jan), another curious animal was found in the same area by a passer-by who couldn’t at first identify what it was.
It turned out to be a baby civet cat, and it’s now under the care of the National Parks Board (NParks).
Animal found wailing by the road
A netizen named Ms Tiara Ardelia 1st posted about the animal late on Saturday (15 Jan) afternoon in the “Lost and found pets in Singapore” Facebook group.
She said she found it on the side of Holland Road, covered in red ants.
It was also making a crying noise.
With such a cute little face, only the most hard-hearted of people would bear to leave it behind.
She brings it home
While Ms Tiara couldn’t identify the animal, she did realise that it was a baby.
The small thing also seemed to fall asleep in her hand as she caressed it gently.
Thus, she decided to bring it home before deciding on the next course of action.
Netizens advise her to call ACRES
Some netizens quickly identified it as a baby civet cat, and advised her to call the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES).
One also told her to feed it milk.
Ms Tiara said that while the animals didn’t seem to want the milk, she’d already called NParks.
Another netizen also said she should put the animal back where she found it and hide, so its mother would come for it.
Adult civet didn’t return
It seems that ACRES also asked her to do the same thing, as in an update a few hours later, Ms Tiara said she placed the baby back where she found it.
However, the adult didn’t return, she added.
Anyway, NParks has already picked up the baby, and they’ll bring him to their facility to be looked at by a vet.
What to do when you see a civet cat
Many Singaporeans might we wondering what they’d do if faced with a similar situation.
NParks actually has an advisory on what to do when you come across a civet cat.
They said civet cats should be left alone as they’re shy – any move to corner or chase may lead to them attacking you in self-defence.
If the civet found is a baby, NParks also advises people to leave them alone and not to pick it up.
This is because the presence of humans will prevent its mother from picking them up and she may instead abandon them. If the mother is nearby she’ll respond to the baby’s calls.
However, in the case of the baby found in Holland Road, either its mother was long gone or she ran away when Ms Tiara picked it up.
Neither did she initially know that it was a civet cat.
Hope baby will be taken care of
Kudos to Ms Tiara for finding it in her heart to rescue the poor baby – though now she knows what a civet cat is, she probably shouldn’t bring it home next time.
Hopefully, they can find some way to reunite it with its mother, or have it well taken care of.
Have you had any interesting wildlife encounters in Singapore? Do share with us in the comments.
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Featured images adapted from Tiara Ardelia on Facebook.
