Male Sambar deer killed in road accident along BKE

:'(

Ashley Tan | August 26, 2022, 12:02 PM

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A Sambar deer was killed in a road accident on Aug. 25.

One TikTok video showed the adult deer huddled on the second lane of the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE), with cars slowly navigating around it.

It is uncertain what vehicle the animal collided with and how the collision occurred.

@cilikicap Oh deer 🥺 #fypシ #biketok #tiktokpelitfyp #sgtiktok #tiktoksg #fypsg ♬ original sound - laaycher - rachel

The accident apparently occurred before the Kranji Expressway (KJE) exit along the BKE at around 9:20pm, and it caused a bit of a traffic jam.

Video from Rezzick / Telegram

According to the TikTok user's optimistic comments, the deer was still alive but injured, at the time the video was taken.

Deer's carcass moved

Unfortunately, it appeared that the Sambar deer succumbed to its injuries.

Photos on Facebook showed that its carcass was moved to the grass verge at the side of the road.

The Facebook user, who goes by the name Junior Wild, speculated that the deer was an adult male weighing around 160kg.

Photo from Junior Wild / FB

The creature appeared to be missing both its antlers, and had a length of cordon tape tied around its neck.

From a short video taken by the Facebook user, the deer also had a broken hind leg.

Photo from Junior Wild / FB

Photo from Junior Wild / FB

Following the accident, the deer's body was likely removed by the National Environment Agency (NEA), which is responsible for the clearing of animal carcasses in public areas, except for estates maintained by the Town Councils.

Members of the public are advised to call the NEA hotline at 1800-2255-632 to report any sightings of animal carcasses.

In response to Mothership's queries, ACRES co-CEO Kalai Vanan shared that its wildlife rescue team got a call about a Sambar deer on the expressway at about 10pm. They understood that it had gotten into an accident.

Unfortunately, the team was stuck handling several other cases. However, they were aware that members of the public had contacted the National Parks Board (NParks) as an alternative, who had attended to the case.

Kalai shared that Sambar deer are known to be present in this particular area.

"This unfortunate animal likely ventured too near to residential area by mistake, panicked and tried to cross the expressway. We hope that the motorists involved did not sustain any injuries," Kalai said.

According to an estimate from 2017, there are only around 20 Sambar deer in Singapore, and they are typically found near Mandai.

Road accidents involving Sambar deer are not new, and motorists have suffered injuries from such incidents as well.

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Top photo from cilikicap / TikTok and Junior Wild / FB