Letters | Hong Kong’s wild boar conundrum could be solved by making space or building better boundaries
- Readers discuss the government’s plan to capture and put down wild boars that venture into urban areas
Educating the public not to feed the animals, a key factor that has drawn wild boars into the city, has also been high on the government’s list of resolutions.
So far, the move to take the lives of wild boars has been the most radical and calls for our attention. Instead of stamping out wild animals, we can start by asking the question: how far have wild boars caused a nuisance to Hong Kong society? In most cases, seeing a wild boar in an urban setting has been enough to trigger anxiety and feelings of intrusion in many city dwellers.
But this is a sign of problematic deep-seated social and cultural preconceptions that need to be addressed. We should think about how our society has shaped a general perception of wild animals as not only a threat to the safety of human beings, but also as creatures inferior to humans in a hierarchy that has long been ingrained in our subconscious minds.
Instead of educating the public not to feed wild animals, humanity can better benefit by educating our younger generation to respect and care for other living creatures.
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Hong Kong wrestling with wild boar dilemma in the Year of the Pig
While it is understandable that urban spaces were constructed for human use, the boundary between the city and the wild is also constantly shifting. Surely, non-human animals do not read the daily news and should not be expected to understand when their living spaces shrink due to human activities. Should a wild boar be punished with death for not being able to find its way back to the wild, or for being captivated by the idea that there are humans wanting to feed it?