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Letters | Blame Hong Kong people for wild cattle snacking in supermarkets over Lunar New Year
- Squeezed out of their natural habitats, cattle have learned to raid bins and even developed a taste for human food and scraps
- Trails of trash left by humans have changed their foraging habits, as well as their diets
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The recent audacious break-in by a bunch of cheeky fruit-hunting feral cattle in Lantau’s Mui Wo Fusion supermarket is no surprise (“Cows go foraging in Lantau Island supermarket”, February 8). Squeezed out of their natural grazing lands by rapid development, these cattle are increasingly comfortable around humans in urban areas. They are not, in fact, starving as has been reported; in fact, most are plump. There is grass for them beyond the town, but they like convenience store food as much as anyone else. They have learned to raid bins and have even developed a taste for human food and scraps. They also consume plastic bags and packaging which are not digested, ultimately causing their death.
But the cattle cannot be blamed. We have enabled their becoming scavengers. Humans leave bags of rubbish alongside bins and outside shops on holidays and at closing time.
Being Lunar New Year, there has also been a tempting trail of festive flowers and Mandarin orange bushes left outside buildings: these are a buffet for cattle. So no wonder they were led by their stomachs along the road to Fusion.
Wellcome at Mui Wo has a strategic post in the doorway which bars entry to anything wider than a human, deterring the cows. So come on Fusion, be proactive and put turnstiles in your doorway if you want to stop freeloading cattle strolling in.
Anna Woodfield, Lantau
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