Complaints about wild animals in Hong Kong have risen by 75 per cent in past five years
- There were more than 2,000 complaints about wild animals, almost half related to pigs, between 2018 and 2019
- Audit Commission urges the government to broaden the scope of its population control programme for wild animals
The city’s official auditor has questioned the government’s animal population control strategy after complaints about wild animal nuisances increased by 75 per cent over the past five years.
The Audit Commission’s report found that contractors were having problems trapping both monkeys for population control and wild boars to monitor the effectiveness of a contraceptive vaccine they had been injected with.
Interactions between wild animals and humans in Hong Kong had risen sharply in recent years, often attributed to people feeding them. In June, a woman was injured after a wild boar wandered into the Kennedy Town MTR station, charging wildly as passengers rushed out of its way. Monkeys were also seen harassing hikers and residents for food from time to time.
“In reporting the work under the contract to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), the contractor remarked that monkeys were highly familiarised with trap cages and becoming cautious in entering them,” the report said.
The monkey population in Hong Kong increased by 13 per cent from 1,728 in January 2015 to 1,957 in May 2019, while monkey troops increased from 24 in 2015 to 32 in May 2019. However, the number of trapped monkeys decreased by 59 per cent, while no monkeys were trapped from 17 troops, according to the commission’s report.