ACRES wins wildlife center pollution case

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2010:

SINGAPORE–The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society
on March 24, 2010 won an order from Singapore High Court Justice Kan
Ting Chiu that ANA Contractor Ltd. must pay damages for building most
of the ACRES wildlife rehabilitation center on a footing of woodchips
contaminated with toxic materials believed to be residue from
sandblasting.
ANA Ltd. subcontracted the job of filling and leveling the
site in Choa Chu Kang to another firm, Lok Sheng Enterprises.
“Shortly after the land was filled, the area was plagued by a foul
stench and brackish water started to seep through the surface,”
recounted K.C. Vijayan of Straits Times. Toxic leachate also
polluted the nearby Kranji Reservoir, and appeared to menace a
commercial fish farm.

“I cried,” admitted ACRES executive director Louis Ng to
Esther Ng of Today. “It meant demolishing the kitchen, primate
sanctuary, turtle sanctuary, and all the cages that were
built-to-order. They were welded to structures and could not be
salvaged.”
Already delayed for six months by financial problems, the
scheduled ACRES wildlife rehabilitation center opening in October
2007 was indefinitely postponed. A reptile quarantine station that
can house about 50 animals at a time and a humane education center
are now operating, and hosted tours by Asia for Animals conference
delegates in January 2010.
ANA Ltd. also faces 33 criminal charges in connection with the case.