SINGAPORE – Singapore is showcasing its scientific expertise in wildlife health management on a global level as it chairs the World Organisation for Animal Health’s (Woah) Regional Wildlife Health Network for Asia and the Pacific for the first time.
The Republic is also on the Woah Working Group on Wildlife for the first time.
Woah, a Paris-based inter-governmental organisation, coordinates and promotes animal disease control.
Leading Woah’s Regional Wildlife Health Network for Asia and the Pacific, Singapore brings countries together to share information on current wildlife health issues as well as discuss challenges and best practices in wildlife health management, said the National Parks Board (NParks).
NParks said that in the network’s meetings, Singapore has shared information about the role of its One Health framework in facing possible threats arising from factors such as the interactions between humans, wildlife and the environment.
NParks, the Ministry of Health, National Environment Agency, Singapore Food Agency and national water agency PUB work together under this framework on efforts such as developing joint response protocols for diseases.
Singapore has also shared information on its biosurveillance system, with checks and controls at the Republic’s borders put in place by NPark’s Animal and Veterinary Service.
“In turn, other members of the network have also exchanged knowledge on their home countries’ efforts in wildlife health management and updated on wildlife disease situations, allowing for the development of more comprehensive recommendations in terms of capability and capacity building,” NParks said.
It added that as a member of the Woah Working Group on Wildlife, Singapore also contributes its scientific expertise and experience in wildlife forensics and wildlife trade, as well as its knowledge of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) regulations to discussions.
Singapore is a signatory to Cites, an international agreement to ensure that global trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
Leading Singapore’s participation in Woah is Dr Anna Wong, NParks’ senior director of wildlife trade.
She had helped set up NParks’ Centre for Wildlife Forensics – which helps identify specimens involved in the illegal wildlife trade – and its Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation, which provides veterinary care and rehabilitation for wild animals in Singapore.
“Setting up these facilities made me realise that there are many different ways to protect wildlife, and so I was motivated to continue exploring and working in these areas,” she said.
Singapore served as the inaugural chair of Woah’s South-east Asia Wildlife Health Network in 2022, and as co-chair of a working group on the role of Cites in reducing risk of future zoonotic disease emergence associated with international wildlife trade, with Dr Wong helming efforts in both instances.
She said she is “very humbled and honoured” to take on such roles.
“It is very much a collective effort, as I am supported by different domain experts within NParks throughout the process of exchanging knowledge and crafting recommendations on how to further develop wildlife health management practices.”
Following the Covid-19 pandemic – long suspected of having zoonotic origins – there is greater awareness of the transmission of diseases between animals and humans, as well as more international work to prevent the transboundary spread of diseases, said Dr Wong, adding that the threat of an epidemic is “always there”.
“I think countries are now more aware. It’s just that they need to put measures in place and not be complacent,” she said, noting that beyond health issues, it is also about conservation of natural species.
And while wildlife health may not be a tangible issue for many in Singapore, greater interactions between humans and wildlife may see more people becoming concerned about the possible spread of diseases as a result.
Dr Wong pointed to concerns raised following the discovery of African swine fever in Singapore’s wild boar population in 2023. The disease, while infectious and deadly to pigs, does not infect humans and poses no food safety risk.
That is why people should follow guidelines such as not touching or feeding wildlife, and to avoid importing illegal animals to keep as pets, she said.
“We really do not know what’s the health status for these animals, and also whether (bringing them in) has an impact on the biodiversity of our wildlife in Singapore.”
