Lawsuit over buffalo attack
A tourist who was gored by a feral buffalo on a popular Lantau beach is suing the government for not catching the animal before the attack.
The man's identity has not been disclosed, but officials acknowledged the lawsuit was filed.
He is taking legal action against the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department over the incident on Silvermine Beach on March 26 in which his leg was injured.
'There are some legal proceedings against the department that have been passed on to the Department of Justice,' principal veterinary officer Dr Howard Wong Kai-hay said. 'The legal proceedings against us are [allegedly] because the buffalos could have been caught by us but were not.'
The man was gored by a bull from the Mui Wo village herd which at the time numbered six. Three were killed by government officers on March 31 but the department could not say whether the attacker was among them. Plans to remove the remaining three have met fierce opposition from some parts of the Lantau community.
Residents said the attacking bull was harassed earlier by beachgoers, although not by the victim.
Wong said the original plan was for all six to be killed but 'we left three behind because we could not catch them'. After initially deciding to leave the three remaining buffalos alone the department received complaints that the animals were being harassed and, fearing another attack, decided to move them.
With the agreement of the Lantau Buffalo Association, which cares for the island's feral herd, it decided to move the animals from Mui Wo to an abandoned government farm near the border before finally housing them at the Mai Po animal sanctuary, which is run by the WWF on behalf of the department.
Wong says it will take about three months to prepare the wetland area at Mai Po, including fencing.
Meanwhile, a group of residents has started a petition to keep the beasts in Mui Wo.
On May 26, operators of the Lantau Link - a website about Lantau issues - sent Wong a letter outlining their opposition to the move and calling his attention to the petition, but have not received a reply.
Wong said he had received the letter and was aware of the petition, but: 'At the moment our policy is to move them to Mai Po and I have yet to see any reason why they shouldn't be moved there.'
One of the main objections to moving the animals is the department's history in transporting them. In 2007, 16 buffalo and cattle died during relocation. Since then the department's vets have been trained in handling large animals. Despite this, the department and the SPCA were unable to load two sedated buffalo on to a truck to take them to a government farm on May 17.
One of the animals that had been sedated wandered 300 metres into marshland before collapsing. The next two hours were spent trying to drag the 900kg beast across the bumpy terrain using a tow truck winch. 'A lot of people do not understand the difficulty of moving feral buffalos,' Wong said. 'We have a great place to move them: Mai Po. Those who do not want us to move them are not taking into account the animals' welfare.'
