Civets seen settling in at Bukit Merah walkway, ACRES advises public not to feed them

Civets settle in at Bukit Merah, ACRES advises public to let them be

Recently, there have been reports of civets settling into a walkway at Bukit Merah, much to the excitement of residents in the area, photographers, and wildlife enthusiasts.

Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, Maricel Cabanero, 39, said she visited Block 129, Bukit Merah View on Monday (15 July) in search of the animals after seeing a post about it.

“But I was not so lucky that day, I only saw one adult and one baby civet cat,” she said.

Undeterred, Ms Maricel returned to the same spot with her friends the day after. This time round, she waited from 7pm to 8pm and spotted three civet cats and four baby civet cats searching for food.

At about 9pm, they witnessed a baby civet cat struggling to climb up the pillar of the walkway to return to its family.

“The whole family kept squeaking, which made me feel so distressed,” Ms Maricel said.

They thus decided to hang a branch to support the baby in helping it climb up the pillar and reunite with its family.

Ms Maricel noted that other photographers would wait at least three hours to see the animals at each of the two nests that had popped up in the area.

Civets known to frequent several spots in Bukit Merah estate

Another wildlife photography enthusiast, Xiang Guoan (transliterated from Chinese) showed reporters from Shin Min Daily News a map of popular spots where civet cats would appear.

The map showed two hotspots believed to be locations that housed their nests.

They claimed that the cats would often appear at Blocks 123, 126, 128, and 129 as well as an adjacent parking lot.

A resident in the area, Ms Lin, told Shin Min Daily News that the civet cats had appeared a year ago and had only recently begun to attract photographers to the area.

She shared her belief that the animals had chosen the walkway to settle at as it is located in a quiet estate with elderly residents.

Civets often come out at night to forage for food

The civets would also hide in the ceiling of covered walkways in the estate, only coming out at night to look for food.

Another resident, Mr Wu, said the animals do not disturb residents despite audibly running through the corridors at night.

“Some residents love these civets so much that they will leave fruits on the walkways or even throw them up to the ceiling for them to get,” he said.

Public should not feed civets

Speaking to MS News, a spokesperson from the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) said civets are shy animals like most wild creatures.

However, they are highly adaptable and have adapted to living in urban areas, also due to the availability of food such as fruits from trees.

“Civet sightings are quite common in these areas and they could have moved out from neighbouring green spaces like the southern ridges over time,” he said.

The spokesperson also advised the public to refrain from feeding them.

“It is important that people do not feed them,” he warned. “Admire them from a distance and let them be.”

Also read: Mother civet spotted in S’pore helping its baby climb tree after falling from it

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Featured image adapted from Maricel A. Cabanero on Facebook and Facebook.