A juvenile chicken was spotted being trapped by a pest control company at Block 14 Dover Close East on Aug. 29, 2024.

A video and photo of the trapping was posted to the Singapore Wildlife Sightings Facebook group on the same day by one Valerie Tan.

Tan claims in the post that the pest control company, Clean Solutions, was engaged by West Coast Town Council to trap chickens in the area.

The photo shows what appears to be the juvenile chicken caught in a trap. Tan also claimed that it had been separated from its mother:

The man from the pest control agency could also be seen carrying the trap with the chick inside:

Tan told Mothership that she approached the man working for the pest control company and queried his decision to trap the chicken.

Tan said that the man explained to her that he could not trap the roosters in the area, and so had caught the juvenile instead.

According to Tan, the chick was to be re-released in a wild area. Tan, however, felt that the chick would not be able to take the stress and was "dying".

Tan also claimed in her Facebook post to have heard the mother hen's "distress cries".

Mothership contacted West Coast Town Council multiple times about this incident but did not receive a response.

It is uncertain how the trapped chicken was subsequently dealt with.

Acres statement

Kalai Vanan, co-CEO of Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), said that the pest control company might have been engaged due to complaints from the public or residents in the area.

"Unfortunately, because poultry is not protected wildlife, culling practices such as these are allowed to happen," Kalai added.

"We understand that these chickens are culled, similar to other birds like pigeons, crows and mynas. It is an unfortunate vicious cycle when animals are culled when they are deemed a nuisance," he said.

Kalai said that the use of cage traps is standard practice, but highlighted that animals that are caught in the foldable trap and then carried around would be stressed.

"Ideally, once trapped, the animals should be transferred to a carrier," he said.

Kalai also emphasised the importance of the public not feeding wild animals:

"Unfortunately, feeding of such animals often causes a rise in their population. Acres has been proactively reminding public not to feed wild animals as it will cause a rise in their population.

We also hope that we can move away from such cruel practices of trapping and culling animals and move towards more humane ways which includes more educational work, stronger enforcement on errant feeders to deter them and more humane population management practices."

Top photo from Singapore Wildlife Sightings/Facebook.