Environmentalist calls for help building online database of Hong Kong's wildlife
Fascinated by Hong Kong's natural treasures, photographer Laurel Chor is building a database of local wildlife and wants the public to join in the quest
Environmentalist and rising photographer Laurel Chor Lik-fung is fortunate to have supportive parents.
They backed her when she took a gap year and visited South America and Africa, volunteering at orphanages and working with disabled children.
After she completed her studies in international health and development at Georgetown University in the US, they got behind her decision to join a team of World Wildlife Fund experts to study gorillas in the Central African Republic.
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That was in 2012. No one anticipated that rebel forces would later overrun the strife-torn country, forcing the team to pull out in a hurry.
"It was me and four other foreign women," Chor says. "We were crossing international borders via the river, and people started firing at us. And at that moment, I thought to myself, 'What have I done. We've been captured by rebels.'"
Luckily, the gunmen turned out to be border guards and the women were transported to safety, although they had to leave their research and evacuate the country.
Chor, 24, returned to Hong Kong last year and began to see her hometown in a new light.