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Lantau buffalo freed, but far from home

Freedom has not come easy for the lone buffalo which cheated death this month when 16 of its mates died en route to captivity after being rounded up on Lantau.

And though it is now free from the shackles of bureaucracy, its life will be lonely. Those caring for the two-year-old are so concerned about its safety if it returns to Pui O, they have asked a New Territories village to look after it, where its only company will be pigs.

The young buffalo was put in a holding pen at an Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department centre in Sheung Shui following the round-up at Shap Long 12 days ago. Some villagers immediately began steps to reclaim it by adoption, and tried to 'bail' it out of detention.

An expatriate Shap Long couple adopted it, but because department rules said they would have had to take it back to the Pui O village - where they feared it would be rounded up or suffer injury or death at the hands of villagers - they passed ownership to another of those leading the rescue efforts, Ho Loy, once it was free.

On Friday, they took it to a remote village in the northern New Territories. 'As we had helped this village before, the village chief is very co-operative and willing to take care of the buffalo,' said Ms Ho. She will not name the village for the buffalo's safety.

'I will arrange another buffalo to be with it later,' Ms Ho said.

The couple who adopted it declined to be named for fear of reprisals from their neighbours.

Ms Ho said the buffalo was a victim of a tug of war between expatriates on Lantau and indigenous villagers who were more concerned with development than conservation.

A department spokesman said it had received 44 complaints about buffaloes causing injury, endangering the public and damaging property between January 2006 and last month, 18 of them from Shap Long.

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