Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Running Wild In Singapore

I want my 5 minutes of fame too
Somebody is paying big bucks for Sir David Attenborough to narrate the two-episode "Wild City", Channel NewsAsia's first documentary on Singapore's wildlife. The first episode will feature the wildlife found in and around the urban sprawl in Singapore, such as civets that take up residence in roof cavities, and wild otters spotted at Marina Reservoir.

Attenborough's voice over has been used in many of the natural history programmes produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. The most expensive documentary series ever made by the BBC - billed as "the ultimate portrait of our planet"  - is Planet Earth. In Episode 8, "Cities - Surviving the Human Jungle", Attenborough talks extensively about the rat patrols in New York, New York.

Which means he is amply qualified to cover the rat infestation in Bukit Batok. Apparently the big bucks spent by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on pest controllers like Star Pest Control only resulted in the rodents moving off from the natural hilltop adjacent to a train station to nearby concrete housing blocks, such as Block 165. And since Minister of State Desmond Lee is the member of parliament for the Bukit Batok GRC, he may get to share the limelight with Attenborough, widely considered a national treasure in Britain.

Ms Mok Choy Lin, Vice-President of Programming at Channel NewsAsia said, "I really hope that it's going to reveal a side of Singapore that even locals have never seen before, and that it shows off a wild diversity of wildlife and species that have never been documented before." It is doubtful the rodents will ever get to share the same billing as the civets in roof cavities, and wild otters at Marina Reservoir. And we have had enough television coverage of the rats in parliament.

6 comments:

  1. The rats in Parliament? Be careful now, Tattler, or you may get to see that side of Singaporeans never get to see.

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  2. Is it just me, or has something come apart since 2004? GCT calls singapore trash, I thnk it has alot to do with some other forms of trash imported. Anyone watched this video on pollution in China? 100m chinese watched it, there must be a reason why clean canals before 2004 suddenly becomes littered with rubbish, there must be a correlation, just no one dares to say so..

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/02/china-environmental-policy-documentary-under-the-dome-chai-jing-video

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  3. Spore still has wild life? Really?

    The govt has been zealous about removing forests and other natural habitats, and culling, it would hardly seem so. Except of course for the rats, which if considered wild life, should be preserved rather than killed, like cockroaches.

    Do note that a Foreign Talent (in this case at least the man is a talent -- though Not as a voice-over, but for his Knowledge of wildlife, which he is Not being used for) is voicing this documentary. No local voices can do the narration?

    Is the Content of the documentary not able to stand on its own, without the boost from Attenborough's voice?

    Spore used to make top-class, award-winning documentaries as far back as the 70s. Forty years later, we need foreign endorsement?

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    Replies
    1. Local Talent No Enough.

      That should be Jack Neo's next movie, predictably.

      Delete
  4. http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/environment/story/bukit-batok-declared-rat-free-20150108

    Gotta love the "rats free" headline declaration made 2 months ago..lol

    In the run up to the election, watch the space for ST to declare similar "disruption free" "transport satisfaction up" "wages increased", "more CPF filled up" Everything hunky dory, we are happy-family-once-again prognosis.

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  5. NEA said rats burrows has increased from 6000+ to 10,000+.
    So how many rats burrows have they eliminated todate?

    ReplyDelete