Pigeons not coming home to roost as Hong Kong shop faces eviction
Shop selling birds won't be allowed to keep them on premises after forced move from Kwun Tong
The fate of 80 racing pigeons is up in the air as a decades-old shop faces eviction to make way for the Urban Renewal Authority's redevelopment of Kwun Tong.
The pigeons are now displayed for sale at the Kok Chai Bird Shop, one of 29 businesses operating on government land along Yan Shun Lane.
Because of hygiene and bird-flu concerns, the shop did not get a new licence from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department to sell live pigeons in Mong Kok where it would be relocated, owner Eric Leung Kam-hung said.
At the new shop in Yuen Po Street Bird Garden, he would only be allowed to sell feed and cages and display photos of his pigeons for sale, he said.
"I'm not sure how I can cover the much higher rent by showing people photos of racing pigeons instead of selling them directly," a visibly distressed Leung said.
He said he would be forced to give the birds away, mark them down for sale, or hand them over to the authorities to cull.
The renewal authority's "merciless takeovers" of shop space in the alley yesterday - the deadline for operators to clear out - prompted a dozen shopkeepers and residents to march in protest to its Kwun Tong office.