Reptiles, gibbons, slow lorises and prairie dogs packed in a parcel, ready for posting

May 11, 2003

Packed in a parcel, ready for posting

By Theresa Tan

WHEN seven pancake tortoises arrived at the Singapore Zoo recently, senior

assistant curator Francis Lim could not believe his eyes.

In the 28 years that Mr Lim, 49, has worked at the zoo, he had never seen

even one live pancake tortoise before.

He had seen this animal only in pictures and museum exhibits.

'These tortoises have very flat shells that look like pancakes, as they live

in rock crevasses in Africa,' he said.

'But to avoid capture, they can also puff themselves up by breathing very

hard when they are inside the crevasses.'

Though excited to see these unusual animals, Mr Lim also felt sad, because

they would not have ended up at the zoo if not for wildlife smugglers.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) confiscated them when they were

being shipped out in a SingPost parcel.

Of the zoo's 2,800 animals, 12 per cent arrived via confiscation.

Most of the reptiles, gibbons, slow lorises and prairie dogs were acquired

this way.

The zoo gets so many of these that it doesn't even need to buy any, said Mr

Lim.

'Primates such as gibbons, slow lorises and siamangs are cute and adorable,

and some people want to keep them as house pets,' he said.

'There is also a high demand for geckos and reptiles. Many youngsters like

to keep these weird pets.'

But this does tremendous harm to animals.

To highlight their plight, the zoo set up an exhibit devoted to the gibbons

found and confiscated by the AVA two years ago.

It includes storyboards to show visitors the impact of wildlife smuggling.

School groups are educated on animal conservation when they visit the zoo.

'These primates suffer a lot of stress as their mothers are often killed by

the smugglers to snatch the babies,' said Mr Lim.

In addition, such animals do not have defences against human illnesses like

flu and can pass their diseases to humans.

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