Written answer by Ministry of National Development on Managing Monkey Encounters in Singapore

Question No: 1457
Question by: Mr Mark Lee

To ask the Minister for National Development (a) how does NParks assess when recurring monkey intrusions in residential estates, including damage to homes and vehicles, warrant hotspot designation and escalated intervention; (b) whether response benchmarks apply for repeated or aggressive incidents; and (c) what further estate-level measures may be deployed where standard deterrence has not reduced repeated damage.

Answer:

NParks adopts a science- and community-based approach to manage monkey encounters in Singapore. NParks monitors human-monkey conflicts and assesses various factors, such as the risk to public safety and monkeys' population ecology and behaviour, to identify hotspots and inform its measures.

To manage human-monkey conflicts, NParks works closely with residents, town councils, and nature groups such as the Long-tailed Macaque Working Group to minimise human sources of food, enforce against feeding of wildlife which is illegal, and put in place measures to guard monkeys away from residential areas. In areas with higher reported human-monkey conflict, NParks would sterilise the monkeys as a long-term population control measure and remove monkeys that display aggressive behaviours to ensure public safety.