THE thought of an apparently rabid cat loose in a Victoria Park packed with young children on a sunny Sunday afternoon should, I would think, give any normal person cause for concern.
Members of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, the management of the nearby Park Lane Hotel and even the volunteers of the RSPCA seem, however, to think very differently on the matter.
The sight of a sick cat is not unusual in Hong Kong, but the animal that was crouched under a table in the park's open air restaurant, last Sunday, was particularly ill-looking.
Although clean and well-fed, its chin was soaked in saliva, its eyes were wild and most ominously it hissed and spat at the water my girlfriend and I tried to give it.
Fearing the cat may be rabid, these being some of the symptoms, I decided to call the local police station.
'We'll try to send someone along,' was the response in a tone of voice that indicated the duty sergeant thought I was some kind of mad gweilo cat lover.