Mooed Down

Six-year-old Miss Hui was riding her bicycle from Pak Ngan Heung to Mui Wo when she swerved to avoid an obstacle blocking the narrow footpath. She slipped off the path and fell, grazing her right leg. That obstacle was one of the increasingly 60 or so feral cows that live on Lantau Island, several of which are becoming increasingly streetwise. Following the accident the Mui Wo Rural Committee sprang into action, complaining loudly about the dangers posed by feral cattle and demanding they be turfed out of town. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) obliged, and on Friday, May 20, more than a dozen cows were rounded up, drugged and transported to an abattoir to be turned into next Sunday's roast.

Today's feral cattle descend from draft animals used for plowing and harrowing rice paddies in the New Territories. With the demise of the agricultural industry in the 1960s and 70s the cows were released, and they continued to graze and roam the hillsides, adapting to their newfound freedom over several generations.

Nuisance Factor

The Government describes the cows as "unattended stray animals with no important conservation value." As such there is little sentimentality in their dealings with the vagrant herds. The AFCD does nothing to manage the cows, but complaints about "nuisance" cattle prompt them to spring into action to catch and dispose of animals under the Pounds Ordinance, Caption 168. The term "nuisance" is wonderfully flexible, including the sins of breaking fences, eating crops and even running onto the street. And, as on May 20, a whole herd may be termed a “nuisance” if one member unwittingly blocks a footpath. Rabid dogs receive better treatment. The cows must tread lightly if they're to get along with their human neighbors.

Mui Wo's indigenous villagers share the Government's disdain for the feral herds, insisting they have long outstayed their welcome. "The cows are getting wilder," says the village's rural committee vice-chairman, Alex Lam. "They used to hide in the presence of people, but now when they are in a big group they become braver and more aggressive." Lam claims they pose a danger to children, citing the girl who fell
off her bike. He also points out that when the cows come into town, their pats attract insects that make the place unhygienic, especially during the animals' frequent bouts of diarrhea. The cows have also upset local farmers, by breaking fences, trampling the fields and helping themselves to the crops.

But there is a group of local residents who find the cows rather endearing. After all, how many world cities can boast a road-hazard sign sporting a picture of a wild heifer? "The cows are now part of Lantau's environment," says amateur naturalist Sally Bunker, who has been studying the cows on Lantau with her husband, Bob, for nearly 20 years. "They're innocent and they don't intentionally harm anybody. The cows are an important part of Lantau's history; they’re a tourist attraction and a very important part of the ecology."

Bunker was shocked to see the drugged cows lying on the road in May, but even more so when she heard the reasons behind the latest crackdown. "I've knocked people off their bikes many times and I haven't been culled. It's shocking to see them treated that way," she says.