Tree pruners ‘lacked common sense’ in work which led to 21 egrets dying in protected area
Official report on incident in Tai Po exposes multiple shortcomings in government’s tree management work
Five tree pruners with the Hong Kong government failed to show common sense or sufficient awareness of wildlife protection in an operation which contributed to the deaths of 21 egret chicks in a protected habitat, according to an official report on the incident.
That conclusion was revealed on Friday after five months of investigations by four managers involved in tree management work for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
It came with an admission that the department, which was in charge of the pruning operation, did not possess a database of wildlife protection areas in the city or any guidelines on the issue for its tree management work.
But landscape architect Patrick Lau Hing-tat said the report still left one request by the industry unaddressed, which was to set up an official arborist licensing system.
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“Guidelines are never enough to cover all sorts of possibilities arising from real-life practices,” Lau said. “Individuals should be held professionally responsible to prevent such things happening again.”