Water birds saved from hawker stall

Seventeen protected water birds were saved by police but eight more were found dead in a hawker stall in Yuen Long yesterday.

Police were called to Pau Cheung Square after a 74-year-old man was found allegedly selling 25 water birds from a plastic cage.

The hawker and all the birds - including wild ducks, gulls, plovers, sandpipers and thrushes - were taken to Yuen Long police station and later handed to the Agriculture and Fisheries Department.

A department spokesman said they were considering whether to prosecute the man for illegally possessing and selling the birds under the wild animal protection ordinance.

The maximum penalty is a $100,000 fine and one year's imprisonment.

The surviving birds are now in Shek Wu Hui Government Kennel; the dead ones will be examined.

Another department worker said they were investigating whether the birds were brought in from China or caught in Hong Kong.