ST Podcasts Live: Coexisting with wildlife, tackling heat stress among issues discussed

SINGAPORE - During the Covid-19 pandemic, which was believed to have been sparked by a virus originating in bats trafficked through the wildlife trade, Singaporeans developed a fear of the animal.

Wildlife rescue group Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) saw a rise in calls requesting help in removing wild bats, said its chief executive Kalaivanan Balakrishnan on Aug 12.

“People who never even knew there were bats around started venturing out and searching for bats roosting in trees,” he said during the fourth ST Podcasts Live event held at clothes-swopping hub The Fashion Pulpit.

“There was one particular household that actually put a mist net across the whole swimming pool to trap fruit bats.”

But he said the spread of diseases between humans and animals often happens when a wild animal is captured and in distress, and that people need not fear animals unnecessarily.

Mr Kalaivanan was speaking at a panel discussion on human-wildlife conflict in Singapore, and how it should be managed.

The dialogue – one of two panels that took place that night – was part of The Straits Times’ Green Pulse podcast, which provides a South-east Asian perspective on climate change and environmental issues.

Hosted by ST correspondents Shabana Begum and Ang Qing, the panel on human-wildlife conflict also featured Ms Jasvic Lye, campaign manager of Our Wild Neighbours, an initiative to promote human-wildlife coexistence in Singapore.

The event, attended by about 95 people, was hosted by Kiss92 radio presenter Juliana Yeow.

Other issues discussed during the 30-minute panel included the “monkey situation” at a housing estate in Punggol. ST recently reported that

the National Parks Board had been trialling the use of water gel guns

to drive macaques from residential areas in Punggol since mid-2024, as a more humane alternative to culling them.

Mr Kalaivanan said Acres has conducted public outreach in Punggol to advise residents not to feed the monkeys, and not to smile at them as this is perceived as a sign of aggression.

Ms Lye said that Our Wild Neighbours has launched a multilingual advisory – in Malay, Mandarin and Tamil, as well as Tagalog, Bengali and Burmese – to reach out to migrant workers on what to do when they encounter wildlife.

For example, when one comes across a snake, it is advisable to stay calm and back away slowly as snakes will not attack unless provoked. People should not approach or attempt to handle the snake.

Mr Kalaivanan and Ms Lye also said people can do their part in reducing human-wildlife conflict, such as by engaging with their peers on the topic and quelling misinformation that incites fear of wild animals.

The other panel at the event focused on the need for Singapore to do more to cope with rising temperatures, which can pose a risk to human health and well-being.

It was hosted by deputy foreign editor David Fogarty and assistant news editor Audrey Tan.

Associate Professor Jason Lee, director of the NUS Heat Resilience and Performance Centre, said that people have different thresholds for heat, depending on their age and occupational exposure.

As temperatures rise, vulnerable groups such as the elderly and outdoor workers will suffer more compromise from heat stress. The rest of society will also feel the ill effects of excess heat, he added.

“Heat is compromising us in ways that we are not even aware,” Prof Lee said. “Lack of outdoor incidental physical activity, lack of free vitamin D, exacerbating mental health, poor eye health, because we don’t make use of the sunlight.”

Ms Jaime Lim, director of the Occupational Safety and Health Specialist Department at the Ministry of Manpower (MOM),

highlighted how MOM is trying to protect outdoor workers.

MOM’s science-based heat stress framework for outdoor workers mandates that when the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) reaches 32 deg C or above, workers should be given a minimum 10-minute break for each hour of physical exertion.

The WBGT is a measurement that indicates how hot the human body feels. For outdoor workers, an index reading of 32 deg C is classified as high heat stress.

After each panel, audience members were given a chance to ask questions and engage with the panellists.

Civil engineer Timothy Toh, 35, said of the discussion on human-wildlife conflict: “Armed with information from the subject matter experts, participants can respond better, such as refraining from provoking wild animals or feeding them.”

Mr Darren See, 21, a first-year student at the National University of Singapore, said he came to know about the live podcast event via e-mail.

“I’ve been quite a big fan of the Green Pulse podcast so it was great to hear from (the experts) in person and ask them questions,” he added.

Mr See’s top takeaway from the event is the “extent of indirect impacts heat has on us”.

“The panellists mentioned not being able to realise our full potential and things like the effects of less physical activity and more screen time, which will only impact us in the long term,” he said.

Watch ST Podcasts Live events so far: 

https://str.sg/uGmo