South China Morning Post
Advertisement
Advertisement
Wild boar
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
A herd of wild boars are seen on Shum Wan Road in Wong Chuk Hang, during an operation to capture them for culling on November 17. Photo: Edmond So
OpinionLetters

Letters | Hong Kong’s wild boar cull was a PR disaster, supporters and opponents can both agree

  • Readers comment on the lack of clear messaging on the government’s wild boar solution, Hong Kong’s Covid-19 restrictions and border closures, and Western concerns about Peng Shuai
Wild boar
Letters
Letters
Why you can trust SCMP
I would like to express my views not on the appropriateness or effectiveness of the Hong Kong government’s bait-and-cull plan in relation to wild boars, but on its execution and implementation of this plan from a public relations perspective.

While I appreciate that press releases were issued explaining, justifying and defending the actions of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, the public would have benefited from better and more effective communication by the government of its efforts and the new policy at the outset.

Of course, I am saying this now with hindsight. But what if spokespersons for the agriculture department, the Hong Kong police and/or relevant government departments leading the operation had come out with an unequivocal, proactive, sincere and coordinated message as part of a wider media campaign at a much earlier stage (in any event before the public outcry)?

A campaign could have clearly emphasised the following:

  • Previous strenuous efforts, incurring huge expenses, to sterilise and relocate the wild boar population have not been entirely satisfactory so targeted culling is warranted to protect the public’s safety and prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases;

  • The government is continually committed to conservation, as demonstrated by its work with local and international NGOs and wildlife conservation groups;

  • Feeding the wild boars will lead to legal and ecological negative consequences, and tougher penalties will be imposed, including in urban areas;

  • Education campaigns have been in place to promote ways to live in harmony with wildlife, which will work in tandem with the culling operation.

Without making such a clear message more widely known to the public (a one-page press release does not suffice, in my view), reading about the captured and culled pigs in the morning paper can be unpalatable, and not just for the faint-hearted.

I applaud the government’s forceful and swift approach in dealing with urgent issues concerning public health, such as rabies and bird flu, but swift actions could perhaps also be combined with a bit more care given to the public’s natural emotions and reactions. And some charm and imagination in the planning, coordination and execution of policies will also be welcome.

Huan Huan Wong, Central

Enough with the unvaccinated delaying normal living

I am in full agreement with Hong Kong’s leading microbiologist Professor Yuen Kwok-yung that we should introduce a vaccine passport and that the city should reopen fully once we have reached a vaccination rate of 99 per cent. This line of thinking would give us back our lives as we knew it before the pandemic.

There is, however, a stumbling block – namely, many are still resisting, for whatever reason, getting their jabs.

We can all agree that those who are certified medically unfit to take the vaccine should be exempted. But there are those who for what I can only suggest are selfish reasons are now holding the rest of us who have had our jabs hostage, stopping us from regaining our normal daily lives.

Those who continue to resist getting vaccinated without valid reason should be marginalised. I hate using this term but there is no more suitable alternative.

The measures that have been proposed, such as barring them from schools and workplaces, have my full support. If they choose to stand apart from society, then they should not be entitled to social benefits. Justice must be seen to be just.

James A. Elms, Mid-Levels

Safety from Covid-19 comes with a price, but it’s worth it

Your correspondent admits that China’s and Hong Kong’s zero-Covid policies have been successful (and thus kept us all safe) but then goes on to query our health administrators for being too “Sinocentric” and thus damaging Hong Kong’s status as an international city (“How Omicron variant could be blessing in disguise for Hong Kong”, December 31).

Well, one cannot have it both ways! We either live in safety with minor local inconveniences (but without the complete community lockdowns which so many European and other world cities have experienced) or allow a free-for-all in international travel and suffer the consequences of hospitals bursting at the seams with patients gasping for their last breath.

In case your correspondent hadn’t noticed, some of Europe’s prime tourist destinations still have some restrictions on travel from outside the EU area or permit visitors only if they comply with testing and quarantine requirements.

Thank you, Hong Kong government, for keeping us safe and sparing us from all those Covid-19 deaths which so many other countries around the world have witnessed due their own governments’ inadequacies and failures.

P.A. Crush, Discovery Bay

Peng Shuai fears expose Western hypocrisy

It is strange to see the care and compassion the West has for one tennis player, Peng Shuai, who apparently is safe and healthy. At the same time, where is the Western care and compassion for the women and children killed by US drone strikes, the multitudes massacred in Yemen, the unleashing of mass starvation in Afghanistan by freezing Afghan funds via sanctions. Don’t forget, many Muslims were killed and tens of millions more were turned into refugees in the name of democracy and human rights.

Michael Yeung, Toronto

Post