Monkey sighting deep in housing estate

He was on his way to get refreshments on a sweltering Sunday two weeks ago when a monkey greeted him at the entrance of a 7-Eleven store.

Before Mr Giam P.H. could approach the animal, at Anchorvale Link in Sengkang, it took off on all fours and crossed the road to his block.

Curious, the 40-year-old operations manager chased after the fleeing monkey.

"It was the first time I had actually seen a monkey in the neighbourhood.

So I got excited and wanted to take pictures of it," he told The New Paper.

The monkey, whose whereabouts are now unknown, found itself at the playground, surrounded by housing blocks in the peaceful estate.

Mr Giam added that the primate kept its distance and did not try to reach for his phone when he took photographs.

"It walked around the playground and plucked leaves from the bushes," said Mr Giam.

When asked if the monkey could be a threat to people in the neighbourhood, Mr Giam said there appeared to be no danger as the monkey seemed harmless and did not attempt to climb into any HDB flats.

However, he felt that the authorities should look into the matter if monkey sightings become a regular occurrence.

"The monkey could be dangerous if it is seen more often, especially here, as there are many children who like to play in the void decks," he said.

On the same day, just across the playground, on the third storey of Block 314D, Madam Sini Dollah was startled when her three-year-old granddaughter shouted: "Monkey! Monkey!" The housewife, 61, said in Malay: "I was feeding my granddaughter when she suddenly shouted that there was a monkey.

"At first, I thought it was a dog as its tail was long."

FIRST SIGHTING

The grandmother of three, who has lived in the estate for more than six years, said that it was the first time she has seen a monkey in the neighbourhood.

So where did the primate come from?

Mr Louis Ng, the chief executive of Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, said it could have come from the jungles around the Punggol Reservoir area.

He said it is normal for monkeys to travel far from their habitat when they leave their troop in search of a new one.

Mr Ng also said that monkeys do not pose a danger to people unless they are provoked.

He added: "If people spot the monkey, they should refrain from staring at the monkey or having any eye contact with it as this is a sign of aggression in the monkey world.

"They should also not approach the monkey and should slowly move away."

Sengkang Riverside Park is the forested area nearest the monkey sighting, but TNP understands that there have been no such sightings there to date.

Miss Amy Klegarth, an American doctorate student who is in Singapore studying urban primates, said that it is not rare to have monkeys in HDB estates as some young or adult males could have strayed out of their troops.

"These encounters, however, only happen for a brief time, around one to two weeks, as they might have strayed away from their habitat in search for a new group," she said.

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