Baby marmoset monkey for $4,800? Inside this 'public' Telegram group selling exotic pets in Singapore

Fancy keeping a hedgehog, a rhinoceros ratsnake or even a monkey as a pet? 

Well, if owning a Pomeranian or a small hamster is too mainstream for you, it seems that buying an exotic animal in Singapore might not be so difficult after all. 

A Telegram user, whose handle is SingaporeSafari, is apparently running a 'June Holiday Special' sale in this 3,900-member chat group.

Calling for "serious keepers only", SingaporeSafari wrote on Wednesday (June 22): "Hedgehog $190 each, while stocks last. Star tortoise both for $1,100… Baby male marmoset $4,800."

First created in June 2020, Exotic Pets Singapore is described as a platform strictly for "discussion and knowledge only".

But after joining this 'public' group on Thursday (June 23), which does not require an invitation from existing members, AsiaOne has uncovered a thriving community where users show off videos of their prized exotic pets.

Other users, like SingaporeSafari, are openly advertising exotic animals to prospective buyers, where most of them are illegal to be kept as pets in Singapore.

For example, star tortoises, sugar gliders, monkeys, scorpions and snakes are all available for the right price.

When AsiaOne contacted SingaporeSafari on Friday (June 24), the Telegram user shared that the "classic" sugar gliders from Malaysia are still available to preorder at $600 a pair.

Banned in Singapore due to concerns about the illegal wildlife trade, sugar gliders are native to Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Warning the reporter, who posed as a prospective buyer, not to "play out the order", SingaporeSafari said: "When stock arrives will let you know… Estimated three to four weeks or less."

It is unknown how this seller managed to get these animals smuggled into Singapore.

In a "pinned message" on the Telegram group, members of Exotic Pets Singapore are made aware of the risks involved.

"Remember that many people – even the authorities – are watching and we might not know. So this [group] is purely for discussion," user Sg JS wrote in December 2020.

But nearly two years on, it has not stopped the likes of SingaporeSafari from selling exotic animals online.

In Singapore, the Wildlife Act prohibits the sale and the ownership of these wild animals as pets, according to the Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS).

This is due to several reasons, mainly to prevent the spread of diseases, disrupt the ecosystem and affect Singapore's biodiversity if they are released into the wild.

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To house the animals that are confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade in Singapore, Acres established a rescue centre in 2009. 

But buying endangered wildlife, such as the star tortoises and sugar gliders, would encourage poachers and smugglers which will fuel the illegal global wildlife trade, AVS added.

In June 2020, a marmoset had to be euthanised on "humane and welfare grounds" after officers from the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) found it abandoned in Geylang.

And two men, including a volunteer from Acres, were fined last July for keeping illegal exotic pets including a sugar glider and a green iguana in their homes, Today reported.

The penalties of illegally importing endangered wildlife is strict. Offenders caught can be fined up to $500,000 or an imprisonment for a term up to two years – or both.

AsiaOne has contacted AVS for comment.

editor@asiaone.com

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