A huge python was spotted on the rooftop of the Bukit Batok wet market on Sunday morning, April 28. Local residents were stunned to see the huge reptile in the locality and captured the incident by using their mobile phone cameras.
The videos shared online showed a dead rat on the ground, near a drain. Reports stated that the python might have killed the rat before hanging from the corner of the roof.
Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), which is an animal welfare charity with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) in Singapore, was alerted about the incident since it involved wildlife.
Kalai Vanan, deputy chief executive officer of ACRES said that it was a native reticulated python which was sighted at a wet market. He said that they believe when the reptile was first spotted in the wet market, it was eating the rat, which was later found dead on the ground. But, he assures that there is nothing to be worried about.
Reports stated that when the ACRES officials came, they created a hole in the false ceiling of the shophouse but the python was not visible at that time, as the snake would have moved from its previous spot.
Vanan also stated that since pythons usually eat small mammals such as rats and birds and these animals do tend to use roofing areas as homes, the reptile probably decided to stay there to find its food. In addition to it, he said that areas like wet markets attract such small animals, which also attracts pythons, who are great at controlling rat populations. However, it is likely that the reptile would have slithered away.
On October 30, 2017, a Singaporean resident Melvin Yap was asleep in his home in Jalan Loyang Besar but when he woke up by the sound of his wife, he found that a python curled up on top of their pet bird's cage and was trying to eat it. He used a stick and a plastic bag to capture the reptile, which was about 1.5m long. They kept the reptile in a fish tank and on the same day, they handed it over to the ACRES.
If someone comes across any wild animal, they are advised to call ACRES at 9783-7782 or Agri-food and the Veterinary Authority of Singapore at 1800-476-1600.
