Letters | Most dangerous animal? Not the Bryde’s whale for sure

Readers write in about the death of a whale in Hong Kong waters, and why the killing of a wild boar sends young people the wrong message

Hong Kong

Letters

Published: 11:30am, 4 Aug 2023

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In 1963, at the Bronx Zoo in New York, there was a display entitled “the most dangerous animal in the world”. Visitors to this exhibit found themselves looking in a mirror. Yes, man is indeed the most dangerous animal in the world.

The sad and unnecessary death of a Bryde’s whale in the waters off Sai Kung highlights how humans cannot help going off and gawking at a rarely sighted animal, even if it might result in its demise. Similarly, the recent case of a wild boar biting humans at Fo Tan station could have been the understandable reaction of a scared animal.

Hong Kong’s lands and surrounding waters are rich in biodiversity. Our encroachment on these areas is leading to more interactions with wild animals – with adverse outcomes for them.

Let’s try to respect their rights instead of intruding on their habitats, catching them as delicacies or hunting them for sport. Otherwise we will continue to live up to the sobriquet of “the most dangerous animal in the world”.

Thomas Tang, Mid-Levels

Boar killing sends our youth the wrong message

The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department had another wild boar put down, after it hurt two people on July 28. It then expressed its concern for the injured. While the department’s swift action in securing the safety of Hong Kong residents is commendable, the message this incident conveys is deplorable: animals are inferior to humans and their lives less worthy.

Wild boars rarely attack except when provoked, anxious or confused – which is not unlike what human beings might feel when roaming unexplored territory and encountering suspicious-looking strangers. But would a human being entering the wilds be punished by death for hurting an animal out of fear or in self-defence?

Perhaps for many, a wild boar being put down is of little consequence. However, if we are to create a more sustainable world with equality, kindness, empathy and love at the core, this unnecessary killing of animals needs to stop. Killing a wild boar will not teach wild animals a lesson on what not to do when in the city, but it will have a long-lasting impact on how our young people understand and eventually treat animals, Mother Nature and each other.

Catherine Chan, Fortress Hill