Sugar Glider are one of 5 exotic pets you can't buy in Singapore

HAVE you ever wondered if you could buy a tiger cub or a pygmy marmoset monkey, and keep them as pets in Singapore?

Well, you can. But it’s illegal. Over a six-month investigation from June to December this year, wildlife rescue group Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) found 156 listings of exotic animals on six online sites – Gumtree Singapore, Locanto Classifieds Singapore, ST701, Carousell, Adpost.com Classifieds Singapore and ChaosAds Singapore. Animals featured on these listings ranged from ball pythons to tarantulas.

It is illegal to keep, trap or kill wild animals here without a license.

Those found guilty under the Wild Animals and Birds Act face a maximum fine of $1,000 per animal.

Those found guilty of smuggling endangered species and their parts and products can be fined up to $50,000 per specimen – up to a total of $500,000 – and/or jailed up to two years under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act.

Most of the animals on the listings were smuggled into Singapore by air, brought in through the Johor-Singapore causeways or bred locally. Joint sting operations with the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) also uncovered other exotic animals, like sugar gliders and an Asian leopard cat.

Since then, Acres has reached out to the six online sites to ask for a tighter control on illegal pet advertisements. Only two – ST701 and Carousell – have responded, agreeing to strengthen its site moderation processes. The remaining four online sites have yet to respond.

While AVA’s website lists several examples of banned species in Singapore, for example hedgehogs and iguanas, it doesn’t have an extensive list of all the banned animals in Singapore, nor does it have specific reasons for why specific species were banned. So… could it just be that these people were unaware that the animals were banned in the first place?

Here is a list of five of the more common exotic animals that are banned in Singapore, according to the AVA, and what they look like.

1. Sugar gliders

Originating from Australia, these furry animals have a squirrel-like body and can grow up to anywhere between 24cm and 30cm. Their body is covered with a soft, thick fur coat that’s usually grey in colour – other rarer colours include yellow, tan, or albino. They also have a thin black stripe running from its nose to the middle of its back, but their most defining feature? Their ‘wings’ – a thin membrane that stretches from their wrists to ankles, allowing them to glide through the air when they stretch out their arms. Just like a flying squirrel.

The other half of its name originates from its diet; the nocturnal animal likes to eat anything sweet, especially nectar from flowers, or fruits and vegetables. They are also arboreal animals – that is, they want to be up in trees, and are social animals that tend to live in huge groups of up to 30 or more.

AVA has listed the sugar glider as an exotic species.

The sugar glider isn’t meant to be kept as pets, said Malaysian Nature Society Johor advisor Vincent Chow. He also added that the change to a hot and humid climate – different from what they would be used to in Australia – could kill them. Plus, since they’re nocturnal, it was more likely that people would grow bored of them, he added.

A quick search on the six online sites revealed that a sugar glider costs around $350.

2. Star tortoises

You can recognise the Indian star tortoise from the distinguishing markings on its shell. There are several variations though; some are humped while others are smooth, and the geometric patterns on their shells can be radiating outwards, or spider-like. They can grow up to 25cm long.

They are herbivores, and terrestrial creatures – which means that they live on land only and cannot swim. More particularly, the tortoises are extremely sensitive to their surroundings, and can develop respiratory problems if kept in conditions that are too cold or too damp.

Tortoises are listed as a threatened species on AVA’s website, and only commercial trade is allowed. For this you need a permit with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).

We didn’t come up with anything in a quick search on the six online listings. However, Indian star tortoises can cost up to $2,000 each. Two men were charged in court in 2013 for stealing a $2,000 Indian tortoise from the Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum in Singapore.

3. Scorpions

You would know a scorpion if you saw one: two large pincers, a narrow, segmented tail, and a venomous stinger at the end of its characteristic forward curve over its back. Here’s something you might not know: scorpions can be found in the forested areas of Singapore, with several nature photographers spotting them in areas like the Zhenghua Forest and the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. Scorpions found here are not known to be venomous.

There are about 1,500 species of scorpions worldwide, but only about 30 of them are fatal. Despite this, they are still listed as an illegal pet, together with several spiders like tarantulas, although why exactly it is illegal to keep scorpions as pets has not been stated by AVA.

Which of these scorpion species are threatened, though? According to Cites’ listings, the Pandinus genus, a particular biological subdivision of the scorpion family, is threatening to go extinct. These scorpions are large, and are normally dark-coloured. They can grow up to 120mm – the length of an average scorpion ranges from 9mm to 21mm long.

We tried to do a search on the six online sites, but couldn’t find any current or retired listings.

4. Slow lorises

These endangered species are shy, nocturnal animals, with large eyes, a long torso and brown fur, resembling monkeys. Cites has categorised the slow loris as being in “great danger of extinction if their trade is not severely restricted”. They are grouped together with other endangered species, like rhinoceroses and tigers.

Although the slow loris might look adorable with its large eyes, what you might not know is that their bite is venomous. They mix a venom secreted from a gland inside their arm with their saliva, and it is this bite that can often be fatal to humans.

The UK-based International Animal Rescue non-profit organisation said that apart from the fact that they are an endangered species, slow lorises are not suitable to be kept as house pets. As nocturnal animals, they cannot be kept caged up at home – a brightly lit room would be “incredibly uncomfortable and cause pain and suffering.” In the wild, the slow loris feeds on a complex diet of fruits and insects, which owners tend to struggle to meet. This leads to serious health problems, such as infection, pneumonia, diabetes, metabolic bone disease and even malnutrition.

Although the slow loris was one of the few exotic animals that was reported to have been on the six online sites, we could not find any.

5. Hedgehogs 

A tiny prickly little thing that can fit into the palm of your hands, you might not know that the hedgehog is actually an illegal pet in Singapore. Several people have already been caught trying to import them across the border; a 26-year-old Malaysian national was fined $1,500 for trying to illegally bring two hedgehogs into Singapore in Feb this year. He hid the hedgehogs in a shoe-box.

An average hedgehog can weigh from 0.2kg to 1kg, and their average lifespan ranges from four years to six years. They are characterised by their coat of stiff, sharp spikes, and are nocturnal in nature. Because the bulk of their diet consists of insects, worms, centipedes, snails and mice, some people consider hedgehogs useful pets because they prey on many common garden pests. Their quill coat ranges in colour: from salt and pepper, to albino, and even to cinnamon and champagne.

What some people might not know is this – hedgehogs may carry a handful of diseases that are contagious to people, including Salmonella bacteria in their stool. They can also carry fungal spores in their quills and skin that cause ringworm in humans.

There is no specific reason listed on the AVA’s website as to why hedgehogs are not allowed to be kept as pets in Singapore, and while we couldn’t find hedgehog listings on several of the online sites, an expired listing on Gumtree Singapore prices a hedgehog at $300.

Source : http://themiddleground.sg/2015/12/22/5-of-the-most-exotic-pets-in-singapor/