Remember that neighbour whose baby's wailing keeps you up at night or the ones upstairs who make you strike your ceiling with a broomstick to let them know their footsteps are too loud?

Wild boars and urban animals are just another troublesome neighbour we inherit, albeit a threatening one which we cannot communicate with.

However, human-wildlife interactions are a feature - not a hindrance - especially where our habitats meet, in a nation that prides itself on its reconciliation with nature.

Sociologist Jennifer Wolch highlights how regular encounters with wildlife can help shape healthy human relationships, as through these experiences we learn to recognise, respect and embrace differences not only between us and them, but also among ourselves.

We do not evict (or worse, eradicate) neighbours over inconveniences or conflicts, for they, too, have a right to exist, even if their stake differs from ours and their presence upsets our peace.

Instead, coexistence with others - humans and otherwise - calls for compromise and adapting to one another's life patterns, even if the effort is lopsided, and much patience on our end is needed.

While it is tragic that citizens have been traumatised by their wild boar encounters and many more continue to be at risk, we should not give in to the baying for blood.

We are undergoing an extinction of experience, as scientists warn, whereby future generations are progressively inheriting diminishing levels of natural experiences, and we owe it to them to stem this loss while we can.

And so, before we decide to pull the trigger on our boar-ish neighbours again, think of how poorly this reflects on us as a society when we fail to tolerate differences, instead acting lethally out of fear of others who, just like us, want nothing more than to live another day - others we have much to learn from, on being better humans.

Brandon Mak