feral dogs, river dogs, a croc (five actually), 35 redshanks & 2 common sandpipers @ SBWR - 12Aug2018

feral dogs, river dogs, a croc (five actually), 35 redshanks & 2 common sandpipers @ SBWR - 12Aug2018 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

These feral dogs were furiously barking at some unseen target whilst another within their group was swimming towards them after apparently investigating two otters which made a fast sprint past it underwater towards the main bridge. The dogs were sufficiently distracted long enough for the otters to make it away safely without being chased. (Dogs have been seen to chase after and attack otters. Although the otters are in their element in water, they can be cornered on land.)

The unseen element eventually showed itself as it peeked out from the shallows. Although it did not seem like it was of significant length, it was enough to prevent the dogs from going after it. The one that had swum after the otters was lucky to run the gauntlet of crocs in the shallows. Stumpy croc would have been somewhere nearby too.

The two otters had been seen exiting the river earlier in the morning and they must have explored a good part of the North-Western coastline the whole day as they only returned as the sun was setting. They swam to a spot about 20m just before the main bridge to survey the surrounding mudflats no doubt to see if the dogs had followed them. Seeing that it was safe to carry on, the otters swam past the main bridge much to the delight of visitors who had already been treated to observing Tailless and another smaller (but still formidable) croc waiting patiently in the lagoon near the sluice gate by the bridge.

The otters must have been tired as they did not stop to say hello to the two crocs. Instead, they swam straight past the bridge under water and towards the central sandbar in the river before running up the sandbar and crossing it before returning to the safety of the water and disappearing out of sight around the bend away from another set of gnarly teeth in the shallows to the left of the sandbar and watched by the line of common redshanks which had only recently arrived from their Northern summer grounds. (Can you spot the two common sandpipers flying off?).

The dog-croc-otter relationship triangle is a complicated one but Sungei Buloh can certainly do without invasive feral dogs. Let's hope the two otters decide, despite the dogs, that it is safe enough to start a family. Sungei Buloh has not seen any resident otter families for a few years now and this is likely due not because of the crocs but because of the dogs which can track down the otters to their holts which are necessarily above ground.