A wild day out for fish, grasshoppers and chickens
Hundreds of fish, grasshoppers and wild chickens were freed yesterday by a group of animal lovers.
The Asian Agricultural Development Foundation, a private group which describes itself as consisting of animal lovers, released the fish off Lei Yue Mun near Lam Tin, and the grasshoppers and chickens into woods near Ma On Shan.
Releasing animals such as fish and songbirds into the wild is a rite traditionally associated with Buddhism.
However, Billy Cheng Kim-hung, a representative of the 300 people who participated yesterday, said the foundation did not have a religious background or motive. 'We love animals and would like to educate and inspire the people of Hong Kong that animals have their right to live,' he said.
'Fish symbolise animals from the sea, grasshoppers belong to the land and chickens from the sky.
'By setting free animals from the sea, the land and the sky, we try to demonstrate that all animals deserve their freedom.'
Mr Cheng stressed that the activity had nothing to do with the recent outbreak of bird flu across East Asia.
The foundation purchased the animals used in yesterday's ceremony from the Cheung Sha Wan wholesale market.
They said all the wild chickens had been vaccinated and should be free of the bird flu virus.
The foundation plans to release more animals in June.
Such activities are frowned upon by scientists and environmentalists, who say that many released birds and fish do not have the capacity to survive in the wild.
There are also concerns that some of the animals which do manage to survive go on to disrupt the ecosystem because they are not naturally occurring.
In May 2001, a Buddhist temple freed hundreds of fish off Siu Sai Wan to pacify the souls of chickens slaughtered to halt the spread of bird flu.
