PM Lee personally replies to turtle museum owner's eviction appeal in Facebook post

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday (Mar 5) replied to a viral Facebook post by the Live Turtle & Tortoise Museum, which faces eviction from its Chinese Garden premises at the end of the month.

Museum owner Connie Tan published her post on Mar 4, which has been shared over 5,000 to date.

In her post, she talked about her museum which has over 40 species of live turtles and tortoises.

She explained that she has reached out to four government agencies - the National Parks Board (NParks), Singapore Land Authority (SLA), the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) - but has yet to arrive at a solution.

She added that ORTO (formerly Old Bottle Tree Park) and AVA have both offered assistance, but to no avail.

Reasons cited by the agencies for the rejection include licensing and land use issues.

She also attached a photo of PM Lee taken at the museum several years ago.

"Thank you for your post, which I have read. Please be assured that MND (Ministry of National Development) and the agencies are looking into your case," said Mr Lee in reply to her post.

Tan is also running an events management company that was started by her father where she is the creative director.

However, she has decided to wind down the business so that she can convert the office space into a temporary home for the turtles.

She is currently looking into a possible site at Sungei Tengah.

Admission to the museum costs $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens and children under six.

The museum is home to more than 500 turtles, tortoises and terrapins, many of them are endangered and rare like the African spurred tortoise and the alligator snapping turtle.

However, the animals will lose their home with the redevelopment of the Chinese Garden and its surroundings.