What's special about this effort? More about the Proposed Amendments to the Wild Animals and Birds Act (WABA) ...
It's a Private Member's Bill
What is a Bill? A law, e.g., imposition of a fine/jail, must be passed by Parliament. A Bill is a draft of proposed laws presented to Parliament for discussion. Once the Bill is passed, the proposed laws take effect.
Usually, Bills are presented by a Ministry. A Private Member's Bill is presented by an individual Member of Parliament.
This Wild Animals and Birds Bill is a Private Member's Bill presented by MP Louis Ng.
How did the Bill come about?
MP Louis Ng had gathered a group of people to form the Wild Animals Legislation Review Committee (WALRC) in January 2018. The WALRC is made up of representatives and experts from a range of stakeholders, including academia, nature groups, animal management companies and interest groups relevant to the WABA.
It is important to the Wild Animals Legislation Review Committee (WALRC) that the public's views and ideas are incorporated into the drafting of the Wild Animals and Birds Bill.
How can the public share their views on the Bill?
A face-to-face public consultation was held on 4 May 2018.
Another session to be scheduled later in the year.
The public is also invited to share views via this poll on REACH which closes 18 Jul (Wed). The poll covers these issues
- Feeding of Wildlife
- Release of wildlife
- Killing, keeping or capturing of birds such as crows, starlings, mynahs and pigeons without a permit
- Killing, keeping and capture of invertebrates without a permit (e.g., insects, corals, horseshoecrabs)
- Deployment of nets, traps and such equipment
- Citizen involvement - should citizens be given the power to assist the government in enforcing WABA?
- Penalties
- Trapping and removal of wildlife
- Recreational interactions with wildlife - a code of conduct for wildlife photography? A code of conduct to guide general activities in nature such as hiking, camping?
The public can also send feedback to the Secretariat of WALRC, Karen Sim at karenswl@gmail.com from 20 June 2018 to 18 July 2018 (5 p.m.)
