SINGAPORE: A woman who was illegally feeding pigeons now faces 17 charges for violating the Wildlife Act. She pleaded guilty to six of these counts, and the remaining charges will be taken into consideration by the judge while sentencing. This isn’t the first time, as she has previously been fined for feeding them.
As reported by Shin Min Daily News, the 60-year-old woman was first fined $4,800 for feeding the pigeons, but she did not stop and continued to feed them twice a day, at times through her own window. She was fined another $9,000.
Further investigations revealed that the woman had fed the pigeons multiple times since 2016 and had been fined by the authorities three times beforehand. Despite this, the town council still received reports about her illegal act. When the authorities inspected the Redhill area, they found that the woman had repeated the offence and claimed that she fed them out of compassion.
There was also footage that showed how she fed the pigeons directly from her apartment window, with twenty to thirty pigeons gathering for food.
Under the Wildlife Act, feeding pigeons is illegal, and violators can be fined up to $10,000. Furthermore, the National Parks Board stated that it would continue to monitor feedback on illegal feeding of wild pigeons and strengthen enforcement. The authorities will take enforcement action against those who feed the pigeons if deemed necessary.
Other related news
In similar news related to birds in Singapore, there was a report where residents at an HDB block raised concerns over repeated crow attacks. With this, some say it has become difficult to move around safely and to avoid being targeted, and they need to wear hats and carry umbrellas whenever they step out.
Read more about the story here.
