OTTERS
3 May 2021 | Oh, the otters... those cute adorable animals that everyone in Singapore loves to talk about and love to track. Where are the otters now? Even we couldn’t resist their cuteness as we, by chance, would see the otter family (parents and babies) flopping down the PCN along the canal. Cameras come out, photos and videos taken with sharing online to family and friends.
But we never expected the otters to invade our condominium complex. At first it sounded exciting. The otters came into our complex and swam in our pool. Haha. But then we saw the videos of them eating all of the fish in our biopond. Chomp, chomp. The big fish had no chance. With up to eight otters frolicking in our pool and biopond, the otters had a feast. And many of us were devastated... yes, by the fish which were reduced by more than half... but for us, mostly by the fact that the pool was closed down for inspection (by EHS) and cleaning for 3 days.
And then it happened two more times and finally the owners of the building got fed up and asked what can we do. The answer...
The biopond was never intended to have fish. Residents added them. As long as there are fish and as long as the otters know they are easy pickings, they will be back. Easy solution... get rid of the fish but for some reason, that idea never really took off with the residents.
The owners were told they could insert more fencing around the complex to the tune of S$70k. That didn’t go over well.
It’s hard to describe the complete anarchy that broke out online in the iCondo app when someone joking used the word cull. Let’s just say it’s a passionate group of people at The Crest.
So, what’s the solution? Well, it appears the guardhouse is now monitoring the perimetre daily and when the otters are close by, they use whistles to scare them away from the complex. And guess what, it works. Well, as long as they spot them early.
The other funny thing is that when we proceed to tell other people in Singapore about the otters, their eyes go wide and they say, “That was your complex?!” Apparently, we are very popular and well-known now because of the otters.
Those otters know that there are still fish here at The Crest. And they know they are easy pickings. They’ll be back... guaranteed. Heck, they might have already snuck in at night and no one even knew it. And yes, they are still cute. Maybe a little less cute when they close down our pool but still pretty cute.