‘Distressed’ hen with missing tail feathers flees across road in Dover during NParks’ capture attempt
A netizen was shocked to witness National Parks Board (NParks) contractors catching chickens along a road in Dover in an apparent attempt to trap them, taking to social media to express disapproval.
Facebook user Valerie Tan posted a video of the incident on March 24, showing a chicken dashing across the road while a man wearing black stands on the opposite side.
“It is very sad NParks contractors catch chicks & poor mother hen ran across to and fro dangerously with tail gone & distressed,” Ms Tan wrote in her post.
Speaking to Stomp, Ms Tan said that the incident happened at about 6.59pm that day along a road outside Anglo-Chinese Junior College, near a multi-storey carpark at Dover Close East.
She recalled that she was on her way back from work when she was startled by a “loud distressed hen call”.
“I saw him trying to catch the poor hen with tail feathers already gone and pacing to and fro between the road,” Ms Tan said.
When a car approached, she had signalled for the driver to avoid the animal. She also recalled hearing chirping from inside a cage in the truck, suspecting that chicks were trapped there.
Ms Tan said she later shooed the hen away, after which it escaped.
“Then suddenly the contractor scolded me for disrupting his catch and began filming me,” she said, adding that she started recording the situation as well.
She has since reported the incident to NParks.
‘No tolerance for local wildlife’: Netizens
Many netizens criticised the incident, with some calling it “animal cruelty” and describing the act as “evil” and “upsetting”.
“This country has no tolerance for local wildlife. Foreign wildlife like peregrine falcon they treat as precious stones,” one netizen commented.
Others urged the authorities to leave the animals alone, or channel resources into addressing other issues such as “rampant smoking and littering in public places”.
However, others had a differing view, saying that the authorities may have been responding to complaints from residents .
“They come because people complain, don’t catch kenna blame, catch kenna blame also,” one netizen raised.
In a written parliamentary response on Jan 14, Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat said there was an average of about 2,000 instances of feedback related to free-ranging chickens in residential estates each year, over the past five years.
NParks adopts a community- and science-based approach to the situation, which includes working with town councils and grassroots organisations on population control measures, the Mr Chee added.
Stomp has reached out to NParks for comment.
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