Hong Kong’s Boar Crisis: A Failure in Response and Management.
The Hong Kong Governments policy to ‘control’ the local boar population through culling continues to raise serious questions. The AFCD began euthanising wild pigs in November 2021 after a spike in the number of boars attacking humans and entering urban areas. The policy replaced the Government’s previous tactic of capturing, sterilising and relocating the animals.
A conservative estimate (and based on AFCD published data) indicates that there has been on average one boar killed per day this year - more than twice the number during the same period in 2022.
But it isn’t just local Governmental Departments that are contributing to the decline of the species population. There are more and more episodes of citizens taking matters into their own hands and capturing and killing boars - either through a pack hunt involving dogs or through the use of traps - contrary to the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance, Cap 170.
We have highlighted 4 recent instances of boar’s in Hong Kong, in order to ask the question: what more can we do to protect these animals?
Wild Boar 1
A shocking video shows a duo using their dogs to chase and maim wild boars. This is not the first time they have done this, and it certainly will not be their last if no one intervenes.
The poachers visit Monkey Hill on a regular basis, along with their unleashed mongrels. Regular hikers in Kam Sham Country Park have uncovered their scheme to maneuver their dogs to hunt wild boars, after which they would reap the lifeless 'reward.' According to a volunteer, the old men were once spotted emerging from the woods with a twitching piglet in their rucksack. The piglet had a tunneling wound on its head, clearly a bite mark caused by dogs. The volunteer further reported a second encounter with the poachers when they were caught in the act. Their dogs were chasing wild boars near a wooden pavilion, and the boars let out cries of despair as they were under attack. The volunteer intervened and threatened to call the police, prompting the poachers to whistle their dogs back. Evidently, the dogs are well-trained to obey the poachers' commands.
On Thursday, October 19th, a visitor captured a video footage of multiple dogs maliciously tearing a wild boar apart, while the poachers stood nearby and made no real attempt to separate them. The volunteer called the police, but the attending officer refused to make an arrest as the poachers were not caught 'red-handed' or in possession of the wild animal.
The dogs are not culprits to blame; it is the owners who are responsible. Despite several altercations between the volunteer and the poachers, they denied that the dogs belonged to them in an attempt to avoid criminal liability. However, this is clearly not the case, as they were accompanied by the dogs every time they hiked in Monkey Hill.
Furthermore, they told a visitor that the feral dogs in Monkey Hill had 'killed two of their dogs' the previous week. The inconsistency of their stories indicates that they are, in fact, the owners of the dogs and are aware of their vicious propensity. It is suspected that they train and instruct their dogs to hunt down wild boars.
Wild Boar 2
A boar was tranquilized and taken away after a standoff with police and staffers from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department as it stormed into the flower market in Mong Kok and injured a 40-year-old shopkeeper.
Police first received a report around 9.20 am on Saturday that a boar about 1.5 meters in length entered a flower shop on Yuen Ngai Street.
Officers carrying shields soon arrived and attempted to drive the boar out of the shop. Yet, the boar ran back and forth and in between at least three flower shops in the area to stay away from the police.
As the boar entered Fu Kee Florist, two dogs from the shop – “Money” and “Cash” – also tried to help drive the boar out but in vain given the difference in their sizes compared to the boar. The 40-year-old shopkeeper also tried to subdue the boar with a bamboo stick but provoked it instead. The boar then charged at the shopkeeper and injured his limbs.
Police cordoned off part of the flower market after the shopkeeper, in his forties, suffered hand and leg injuries. In a video provided by onlookers, around half a dozen officers were seen engaging in a fierce battle to corner the wild boar in a shop, using riot shields and batons.
Later, officers from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department arrived and anaesthetised the boar before taking it away. The department later said the boar was euthanised on public safety grounds.
The boar, covered in a green plastic bag, was finally removed from the shop and loaded onto the van of the department. The AFCD said in a statement: -
“Considering that the wild boar had attacked people, and [letting it] continue to roam in the urban area would pose a danger to the public, the personnel from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department decided to handle it humanely to ensure public safety.”
Wild boar 3
A 1.5-meter-long boar was spotted at the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens in Central on Tuesday morning as police rushed to the scene and cordoned off the area, awaiting staffers of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.
A police report was filed at 9.04 am today as citizens found the boar wandering in the park and worried it would harm other passers-by.
Cops carrying shields soon arrived and stood by in the area. The boar entered the Camellia Garden and officers immediately instructed staffers there to close the gate.
Wild Boar 4
Five workers and a police officer in Hong Kong were injured and sent to hospital after being attacked by a wild boar at a construction site on Thursday.
The boar, estimated to be about one metre (three feet) in length, rushed into a lift and took a brief ride in a building under construction on Stubbs Road in Wan Chai, according to the force. It managed to evade capturers and was last seen running up a hill before midday.
A force spokesman said it rammed into the five workers when it ran out of the lift on the first floor. He said a policeman was also injured by the animal before it retreated back into the lift and was subsequently fenced off.
“After the attack, the wild pig ran back into the lift, which moved between the first and fifth floors,” the force spokesman said.
He said while the lift stopped at different floors, it was not known which one the animal had exited from.
The boar fled the site and ran to a nearby cemetery before running up a hill, he added.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said that it was very concerned about the incident. A special team comprising 10 people had been sent to the site to search for the boar and set up animal traps with police, it added.
Officers from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department at the construction site where the boar attack occurred. Photo: Jelly Tse
Courtesy of Eunice Lam