Sai Kung wardens not serious about illegal hunting: villagers

Country park wardens have stepped up patrols to catch illegal hunters in a village near Sai Kung after a wild boar and a porcupine were freed from illegal traps.

A female wild boar weighing more than 45kg was freed from a cage trap on the outskirts of Ko Tong, Sai Kung East Country Park, last Saturday. Last month a porcupine was freed from a cage in the centre of the village.

Officials dismantled the cages and took them away after releasing the animals back into the wild. They claim to have a suspect for the trapping, but do not have enough evidence to prosecute.

Some residents, however, say the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department is not doing enough to stop the widespread illegal hunting of boar, deer, birds and freshwater turtles in the area. Villagers say department officers who visited Ko Tong last week to free the boar did not attempt to speak to the man they suspect of setting the trap. The suspect is a village resident.

Barrister John Wright, who discovered the caged boar last week, said: 'The boar had charged the bars of the cage and injured its nose. Clearly it was intended for someone's table - maybe for a Chinese New Year banquet.

'I tried for a long time to ring the department but no one was answering the phone because it was a Saturday.' A friend who had done work for the department eventually got hold of an officer and a team arrived from Mai Po two hours later.