I hate Singapore! As an expat that has travelled many countries with a pet dog and we were on our way home via Singapore (quarantine requirements) no-one ever told me about the dangers in the local park - I know it's the tropics and all but if a snake large enough to kill a child is in the area you would think the authorities would put up warning signs - they didn't and my wonderful Jack Russell Terrier paid the ultimate price and was terrifyingly crushed by a python. Many will think so what, just a dog but when your an expat & been away from home family & friends for such a long time, that pet becomes your family. The Singaporean police untangled the snake to recover my little dogs body but then let the snake free stating they didn't have the right equipment and anyway, the snake is protected...this snake was 12 feet long and would have easily taken a child, if not an adult - the Singaporean police attitude is disgusting.
I have lived in Asia many years and in my life been fortunate enough to travel around the world - I will never return to Singapore, ever again and the attitude of the Singaporeans will make the pain and sadness I feel at losing my most beloved little pet even more painful - I will think of Singapore with nothing but disgust, anger and bitterness.
Posted by: i hate sing on Nov 17, 06 | 5:03 pm
Pretty freaking tragic, eh? Letting 12ft killer python go free into the bush of the park again! Holy shit! I'd be pretty pissed off as well!
As I was having trouble with wildlife myself, fighting off leopards (bullshit) and rhinos by the swimming pool (I kid you not - no photos as it was too dark) in the deepest darkest private game reserve 200km from Jo'burg, I didn't get a chance to follow up with "i hate sing' about the story until Saturday when I checked my email for the first time in a week. So I sent him an email asking for more details, but his girlfriend replied, apologising, saying he was still too distressed to talk to anyone.
She did send me a photo of the unfortunate dog, Bella.
Looks real cute.
Interestingly, the story "i hate sing" told in my blog differs from the version printed in the Sunday Times that I caught on the plane on my way home from Johannesburg last night. I am not sure how ST got the story, I doubt if it was from my blog as new comments don't bring old articles to the front, but it would have been cool to have broken the story, what!
In the article, they spoke of the police or someone (can't remember and refuse to pay the Lee family to log-in) making two attempts to capture the python later on, and saying that the police call was wrong - a woman in distress, or something.
Weird. "Huge python crushing my dog" - "woman in distress". Must have been an ang moh accent issue.
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What would the title for my breaking story have been?
"Killer Python Stalks Singaporean Expats Pets - claims journo-blogger and all-round brilliant writer Expat@Large."
No, how can a snake stalk? You need limbs to stalk - it goes with the visual... OK maybe not such a brilliant writer...
But anyway, remember, you heard it first here on Expat@Large!
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"disgust, anger and bitterness." That about sums it up for me, too!
E@L
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