A regular of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) pleaded guilty to picking up a pregnant pangolin and selling it back in July 2023.
He had found it along a park connector in Yio Chu Kang, and brought it back to his house in Punggol.
While the pangolin was in his care, he failed to provide appropriate food and sufficient water for the creature.
Authorities later apprehended the RSAF regular after he sold the pangolin to someone he met after advertising the creature on a Telegram chat group.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), 21-year-old RSAF regular Damien Tan Guan Rong picked up the pangolin from a park connector along Yio Chu Kang Road on 2 July 2023.
Source: Google Maps, for illustration purposes only.
He brought the pangolin back to his home in Punggol, where he kept the creature for a few days.
Despite knowing that the mammal feeds primarily on ants, Tan was reluctant to find the ants to feed it.
Hence, during the pangolin’s stay with him, he fed the pangolin fruits and vegetables instead.
Tan had also failed to provide it with adequate water, CNA reported.
On top of that, Tan advertised the pangolin for sale in videos he shared on a Telegram chat group focused on exotic pets in Singapore.
He then negotiated the selling price of the pangolin with some Telegram users after receiving offers from his advertisement.
Source: Handout via South China Morning Post, for illustration purposes only.
That was how he met the co-accused, 35-year-old Lee Kian Han.
Tan had agreed to sell the pangolin to Lee for S$1,400. The two men then met at an HDB block in Jurong West on 4 July, at around 2am, where Lee paid for the mammal via PayNow.
Later that same day, the National Parks Board (NParks) confiscated the pangolin from the 35-year-old.
NParks had detected the advertisement on Telegram, and an officer offered to buy the pangolin from him for S$1,600.
Source: Global Conservation, for illustration purposes only.
When Lee met his “buyer”, little did he know that it was a covert operation. Thus, that was how the web unravelled.
Subsequently, authorities nabbed the 21-year-old RSAF regular at his home.
NParks sent the pangolin to a centre for wildlife rehabilitation and examination after Tan’s arrest.
There, an NParks vet confirmed that the pangolin was a protected Sunda species.
An assessment of the animal’s health also found that it was pregnant and “very hungry”, per CNA.
On Wednesday (10 Jan), Tan pleaded guilty to a charge of selling a protected wildlife species under the Wildlife Act.
The court will also take into account his other charges of taking the protected animal from a park connector, keeping the pangolin in his Punggol flat, and failing to provide it with adequate water and suitable food during sentencing.
According to prosecutors, NParks has yet to recover the S$1,400 from Tan’s sale of the pangolin.
The prosecution had previously indicated that they were seeking a fine of S$8,000 to S$10,000 against Tan.
Tan’s lawyer supplemented that his client has been making monthly donations to the Wildlife Conservation Society.
But, when the judge asked why Tan did not make a donation of S$1,400 to cover the sum, the defence lawyer responded that he would liaise with the prosecutor regarding this.
Additionally, the judge ordered assessments on Tan’s suitability for probation and community service.
Tan is due back in court on 29 Feb for sentencing.
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Featured image adapted from Global Conservation and Google Maps, for illustration purposes only.
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