Animal rights groups decry as inhumane new policy of capturing and killing wild boars that stray into Hong Kong urban areas

As encounters between the animals and residents grow, wildlife authorities will no longer relocate the pigs and instead cull them

But concern groups argue that approach is morally wrong and officials should instead improve the current policy and better educate the public

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Residents watch as a wild boar approaches at Aderdeen Country Park. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 7:17pm, 13 Nov 2021Updated: 10:36pm, 13 Nov 2021

Several animal rights groups in Hong Kong have petitioned wildlife officials to drop a plan to capture and cull wild boars, arguing innocent creatures will suffer for merely responding naturally to changes in their habitat.

Activist groups including the Hong Kong Wild Boar Concern Group and Hong Kong Animal Post made the joint appeal on Saturday urging authorities to instead improve the current policy to “capture, neuter and relocate” the animals in place since 2017.

The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) announced a day earlier that it would start to regularly capture and euthanise wild boars that had entered urban areas using dart guns with anaesthetics.

A wild boar in Tai Tam Country Park. Photo: Nora Tam

The change in approach came after a surge of wild boar sightings in populated areas, causing a nuisance and even injuries to residents. The latest such encounter happened on Wednesday when a wild boar knocked down a part-time police officer and bit him on the leg in Tin Hau. Immediately after the attack, the wild pig ran off, going over the edge of the car park and falling about 10 metres. It was later certified dead at the scene by a veterinary surgeon.

The Hong Kong Wild Boar Concern Group, with more than 17,000 followers on social media, asked the AFCD to “immediately withdraw its extermination of wild boars”, adding the government should focus on educating residents not to feed wild animals and avoid destroying the natural habitat of the species.

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