Singapore : She saves pigeons, they give her a harsh sentence

Singaporean justice has heavily sanctioned Soh Choon Heong, a 64-year-old resident, who was fined 6,500 Singapore dollars (approximately US$5,087) on Friday, May 29, for compulsively feeding pigeons, illustrating the city-state’s zero-tolerance policy towards environmental offenses.

Caught in the act outside the Far East Plaza shopping mall by agents from the National Parks Council (NParks), the woman, partially concealed behind a mailbox in surveillance footage, made a desperate attempt to escape by giving a false name before jumping on a bus.

Followed on board by officials, she invented the surname « Tan Siew Siew » and dictated a fake official document number, prompting the officers, suspecting the deception, to follow her to the next stop to request police assistance. The police ultimately discovered her driver’s license hidden among her belongings.

In court, the woman, who was not represented by a lawyer, pleaded guilty to three counts of unauthorized feeding of wild animals and one count of obstructing a public official. Seven other similar offenses, committed between September 2024 and September 2025, notably along Scotts Road and near 31 Balmoral Park, were taken into account in the verdict.

In her defense, the accused gave a poignant but confused testimony, explaining through a Mandarin interpreter that a financial disaster linked to a failed investment during the Covid-19 pandemic had forced her to take on multiple jobs, and that the birds’ distress had echoed her own disappointment with life, paradoxically giving her renewed courage to live since she considered herself luckier than these animals unable to work.

Faced with this tirade, Magistrate Don Ho pragmatically replied that the birds had no need to work since they had an abundance of food scraps in the garbage bins of shopping centers. He also dismissed the defendant’s argument that she threw instant noodles and breadcrumbs solely to attract pigeons in order to break their tethers or hooks, the judge noting that no such manipulation was visible in the videos presented in court.

This case reflects a significant sociological trend in Singapore where, according to recent data from the CNA network, people aged 65 and over account for half of the illegal feeding cases recorded between 2023 and 2025, a habit often triggered by isolation, loneliness, or a loss of emotional support.

While the Wildlife Act provides for fines of up to 5,000 Singapore dollars per offence for a first offender, local courts are handing down increasingly harsh sentences, such as another 60-year-old woman sanctioned for 17 repeat offences or a 67-year-old resident recently charged in the Yishun district, now forcing a distraught Ms. Soh to request a payment plan to settle her administrative debt.