STOMPer Jasmine was impressed by the kindness of some Hougang Secondary School students, who helped a bird that was trapped in drain.It's encouraging to see these youths with empathy for animals; many people would probably have just shrugged their shoulders and excused their inaction with "It's just a bird." Even non-native and invasive species, in this case, a feral pigeon (Columba livia), deserve at least a basic level of compassion and interest in their welfare.
She wrote:
"I was walking past a block in the Hougang area when I saw a group of Hougang Secondary boys surrounding a drain.
"I was curious at what they were doing so I decided to go and look at what they were doing.
"I was impressed that the boys was trying to give some warmth to the bird which was trapped inside the drain while one of them called the SPCA.
"After around 30 plus minutes the SPCA officer arrive and brought the injured bird back.
"I asked their names (Yong Yi, Emil, Benjamin and Jeremain) as I wanted to give them some money for their kindness toward animals but they kindly rejected it.
"It is very rare to find students that are so helpful towards animals."
Should one encounter a wild animal in distress, the first organisation to contact should be Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (ACRES), which has a dedicated wildlife rescue unit that is on standby 24 hours a day. The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) probably already has its hands full dealing with abuse and neglect of domestic animals, and may not always have the capacity to respond quickly enough to cases involving wildlife.
