About 11:30am, not too many photos taken, I was about to head back. A gentleman, while on his way back saw me taking photos, told me he saw some flying lemon or something. It took me a while to understand that he was saying flying lemur. He said it's on the floor, injured, about 10m further. Off I went to check it out.

Before I saw the injured animal, I saw a crowd looking into the forest. The crowd includes a volunteer nature guide with 2 or 3 nature lovers who walked pass me earlier on, 2 joggers and some passerbys. They showed me where the injured flying lemur was and said there was a baby as well. I was able to see the adult animal, took a couple of record shots, but I wasn't able to see the baby.

One of the ladies said she saw somebody shooting things around with something like a slingshot (have I got it right?) They were most likely responsible.

At that time someone had already called the ranger. We waited a short while but the ranger hadn't arrived. I don't know what I was thinking but I went into the forest to save the baby. I found it. I wasn't sure whether it was injured but it definitely looked frightened. I carried it to the boardwalk where we could look after it.

As I was about to go back in to take the injured adult out, the ranger arrived. So he went in first. He tried to take it out but it was very stressed and tried to bite him. So he informed his colleague Ben who was on his way there to bring something to carry the animal.

After a while Ben arrived with a dust bin. He went straight in to settle the animal in the bin. Although safety measure had been taken, he was still bitten by the flying lemur.

The drama finished shortly after. Ben and the ranger took the animals to the zoo. Although they were not too optimistic about their chances of survial, we did what we could to save them. I hope Ben will update us on their progress.

Here are some records shots taken during the drama. Sorry for breaking the 3-images-per-day rule.

Cheers,

Aaron

Damn well camouflaged. I couldn't spot the baby until I heard it calling almost right next to my foot!

Just took it from the forest and put it on the boardwalk.

We were trying to cover its eyes with some leaves.

The mother flying lemur waiting for rescue.

As we approached her, she was trying to escape.

Ben got her!

Not sure whether the red part was one of the wounds.

None of us came across to feed water to the bady!! Thanks Ben!

Trying to put the baby into a cloth bag.

Thanks for sharing the story. It looks like there are many nature lovers out there who does care for these animals!

Sad story, thanks for stopping to help out, I got a forwarded email from someone in NParks who reports the adult was too injured and could not be saved. Baby is still being cared for.

Con

Ben has informed me the fate of the mother flying lemur. I feel sad about losing an animal like that. Completely unnecessary. A victim of greed if the culprits were poachers, or mental sickness if they did it just for fun. I just hope the baby would be able to make it.

We really should keep an eye on suspicious people hanging around our remaining nature reserves. We should work together to stop this type of murder from happening again!

Aaron

Perhaps we should have an outing where we just wait under cover for these %$&*!!!!, get a few images of them with their slingshots and report them!

With Anger

Han

Is NParks still looking after the baby, or is it with the zoo now? Who'd be in the best seat to look after it?

-ptlee-

The NParks probably has plant hospital...

BTW, I was told that NParks brought both lemurs to the Zoo, and was advised to put the mama lemur to sleep due to her extensive injuries.

As of 1 hour ago, the baby lemur is still alive and active. Any one who can offer any help or advice, you're most welcome to contact the Ranger Station.

That ranger station is unfortunately a long walk from the car park as SICC will not allow us to drive in.

CW. I'll certainly chip in to help raising the baby. Let's see how to organise it.

Cheers,

Aaron

Cheers

Han

The Zoo may have valid reasons for not wanting to keep the lemurs. I believe as a commercial organisation, issues like potential disease and quarantine to protect their other animals come to mind.

So whilst we may consider this a simple issue of the best experts to look after the poor orphaned lemur, there may be other issues which we may not be aware of.

I've just called the MacRitchie Ranger station and had a chat with the ranger who is taking care of the baby flying lemur. As SK said, it's doing fine.

According to the ranger, they actually have this arrangement with the zoo prior to this incident that the zoo will give medical support to the injured animals but NPark needs to take care of them afterward. This is because the zoo has very strict quarantine procedures in order to protect the animals inside.

The ranger also said that it would be helpful if we can keep a look out on suspicious people in the forest. We should call the NPark hotline at 64685736 AND the police at 999 once we come across such people.

Cheers,

Aaron

Be most willing to donate money to help raise the baby.Please let us know how else we can help out.

regards,
Nams

Thanks to all who took the trouble to find out (an explain) the current situation, appreciate it.

-ptlee-

SC

Spoke to the ranger station again earlier. The baby is still doing fine. They're sending it to the zoo to do check up today.

The next time I speak to them, I'll ask whether they need some funding for raising the baby. They've never mentioned it.

Cheers,

Aaron

I've asked the Zoo if they are keen to look after the baby lemur as they have the facilities and staff to do so. Why can the Bird Park which belongs to the same organization (Wildlife Reserve of Singapore) take in the Himalayan Griffon but not the Colugo? Surely it is more important to showcase a local rare species? No other zoo in the world has flying lemur in their exhibits.

I'm sure the worry about viruses like bird flu can be taken care of if the baby is quarantined and checked carefully. A wild bird with wider range like the Himalayan Griffon would be more at risk than the flying lemur which is very restricted in its range of movement. Also, so far there has been no reported incidences of bird flu even among wild migratory birds, so the chances that a local animal catching it should be low.