The authorities have yet to respond to a Taiwan-based university's offer to lend Hong Kong a dog trained to sniff out a disease that is killing the city's historic trees.
The dog has been trained by the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology to identify trees infected with brown-root rot, which has infected at least 13 mature trees in Tsim Sha Tsui, Central, Happy Valley, Lei Yue Mun and Tung Chung.
Seven of the trees have already been removed or fallen, official records show, including one which fell onto a bus shelter in a busy shopping street in Tsim Sha Tsui last month.
The fungus that causes the disease, common in Southeast Asia, was first detected in Hong Kong in 2007.
Taiwan has been researching ways to prevent its spread since a serious outbreak in its forests and plantations more than a decade ago. The measures include training a sniffer dog which, according to a tree conservationist, operates like the truffle-sniffing hounds in Europe.
Veterinarian Chi Wei-lien, of the university's working dog training school, said they suggested sending the dog to help out in Hong Kong, but had yet to make a formal proposal.
'We didn't hear from Hong Kong, and the proposal would require co-operation between the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and an academic institute in Hong Kong,' Chi said.