Balance needed in dealing with Hong Kong’s wild boars
- The government must soon determine a target population size for the animals and shift into population management, lest the culling programme become an extermination plan
Wild boars have roamed the Hong Kong country parks for years and it has been common to see them along one of the hundreds of kilometres of trails.
But with interaction came familiarity, and combined with encroachment of humans into their natural habitat, an inevitable rise in conflicts followed. A cull launched in 2021 appears to have been highly effective.
The incidents involving humans and boars are real. In October, for example, a 55kg (121lb) boar entered a Mong Kok flower shop and bit the owner who had tried to drag it out by the ears. It was captured and euthanised, but not before a police officer struck it with a baton. Others have boarded MTR trains or sneaked into restaurants.
In response, Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department officials initially tried to capture, sterilise and release the animals, but found they could not keep pace with the breeding.
A sow can give birth to up to 16 piglets in 16 months. Some males can weigh 200kg. So in 2021, after a police officer was bitten by a boar, the Hong Kong authorities began to cull the animals, then estimated at about 2,500.
Since culling began, 910 boars have been killed, Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan told lawmakers last week.
The overall population dropped 26 per cent to 1,360. That’s an average of 41 boars killed each month. The programme has been decried by animal concern groups as despicable, bloody, ineffective and cruel.
Hongkongers who feed these wild animals must bear some responsibility. Once fed, boars will travel far to return to urban areas looking for more human handouts, Tse said.
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The city logged about 1,128 sightings or nuisance cases in 2023, roughly steady with a year earlier.
The government has proposed raising the maximum penalty for feeding wild animals from HK$10,000 to HK$100,000 and a year in jail. It can be implemented by August if the bill is approved. The legislature should move swiftly to pass the law.
At some point soon, the government must determine a target population size and shift into population management, lest the culling programme become an extermination plan.
How the city treats these wild animals that are such an integral part of Hong Kong’s rich natural fabric will most certainly weigh on its reputation.
