LOCAL

Country Park area to minimise nuisance to the public. According to AFCD, currently, there are more than 1,000 cows in Hong Kong. Between 2012 and 2016, 453 were relocated. Fanny, a volunteer from Sai Kung Shap Sze Heung Cattle Concern Group, says once she saw a three-month-old young calf being taken by AFCD for injury treatment and later relocated to Chong Hing, separated from the mother cow. The officers assured her that Chong Hing is a more optimal place for the calf to live. However, worried about the injured young cattle, Fanny decided to visit Chong Hing herself. “The place is shocking to me at the first sight. There’s nowhere more barren than here. You can’t even see any grass at all. The cattle are so skinny that you can almost see their skeleton,” says Fanny. “There’s no grass in Chong Hing, so we bring grass to them. Also because we don’t want them to eat trash. Neither do we want them to beg visitors for human food.” While many organisations have good intentions for feeding the feral cattle, founder of Sai Kung Buffalo Watch, Karina O’Carroll believes grass-feeding behavior does more harm than good to the cattle. “It seems to be a vicious cycle. Bringing hay in garbage and plastic bags teaches cows to associate that these bags (and humans) equals food, so cattle are beginning to rummage in bins looking for hay,” says O’Carroll. Additionally, because volunteers often take taxis to bring in food, it is likely that the cattle associate vehicles with food, according to O’Carroll, which could possibly explain why cattle have recently been chasing cars and To feed or not to feed that is the question taxis in Sai Kung. Dr. Fiona Woodhouse, SPCA Deputy Director in Welfare Services, says she is not Bella Huang reports on the grass-feeding dilemma of Sai completely against grass feeding and that properly monitored feeding can sometimes be Kung’s feral cattle beneficial. Still, Woodhouse suggests a more measured approach when it comes to feeding With an influx of visitors to the town over the home to a farming and fishing community, wild animals, “it’s possible that feeding the past year, many of Sai Kung’s beloved cattle where cattle were domesticated to help cattle grass would change their diet habit. have been left with nothing to eat. You may plough paddy fields. Along with rapid It should be more carefully monitored and remember a story from our January issue economic development in the past decades, managed by the AFCD cattle team,” she says. about Tap Mun Island running out of grass, the local agricultural industry declined and The AFCD points out that the size of Sai the situation has not improved and many have many cattle were abandoned. As these Kung Country Park is over 7,000 hectares decided to take matters into their own hands. animals wander around in the area, local with sufficient natural resources for the cattle,

Catson, a volunteer from Hong Kong Cattle authorities from time to time receive cattle- who have lived in the wild for decades. “They Ranger, has resorted to bringing fresh bags of related nuisance reports such as traffic are capable of foraging in the wild, regardless hay and cut grass to the town several times a disturbance and crop damage. of locations, seasons and weathers,” AFCD week for the feral cattle. “The cattle are living To tackle the complaints and stabilise responds in an email enquiry, “on the contrary, in the desert. There’s no grass for them at all,” the cattle population in 2011 the Agriculture, human feeding may change their natural she says. “We don’t come on a regular basis Fisheries and Conservation Department behaviour and survival instinct and encourage and the cattle don’t have enough food to eat (AFCD) launched the “Capture-Sterilisation- them to beg for food from humans.” most of the time. I just hope they can have a Relocation” programme. Its Cattle Regardless of what side you take there fulfilling meal every time I go.” Management Team implements surgical is one thing we can all agree on, we need to

Prior to becoming a popular countryside sterilisation on healthy cattle and upon protect Hong Kong’s countryside and wildlife retreat for busy city dwellers, Sai Kung was recovery, the cattle are relocated to nearby before it’s too late.