Monkey business

Human-animal conflicts in urban Singapore

Bibliographic Data

ID3977239
AuthorsJun-Han Yeo (Raffles Institution), Harvey Neo (0000-0002-4357-3808, National University of Singapore)
Year2010
Volume11
Issue7
Pages681-699
Publication date2010-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2010.508565
OpenAlexW2092566398
LanguageEN
Citations received56
References cited14

Ongoing human–long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) conflicts in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Singapore, have seen native macaques significantly affected, as residential development encroaches into animals' habitat, destroying important wildlife corridors. The search for a more humane treatment of these transgressive animals can be seen as an attempt to extend and include non-human animals within humanistic notions of ethics and care, in the process destabilizing the assumed divide between human/animal. Yet, a feasible solution is difficult to reach as National Parks Board (NParks), the state agency overseeing the conservation of reserves and wildlife, has to negotiate constantly between their goal of maintaining biodiversity and appeasing the complaining residents. The paper seek to understand urban–wilderness conflicts between human–macaque, showing that the divide between tamed/wild is multi-sited, ambiguous and constantly shifting. In this regard, we are especially interested in the role of intermediaries in initiating actions to 'make discursive as well as material space' for macaques in the reserve. Intermediaries, here referring to NParks and animal activists, are actors who do not reside near the reserve thus having no frequent encounters with wildlife, yet are enrolled as mitigators during instances of human–animal conflicts

Agency (philosophy · Biology · Business · Environmental ethics · Geography · Intermediary · Negotiation · Non-human · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Wilderness · Wildlife · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation · Ecology