A cow was killed and two others injured when a car slammed into them on Lantau Island on Tuesday afternoon.
A 35-year-old foreign woman driving a white Volkswagen Golf hit the three cows near Shui Hau village while heading along South Lantau Road toward Tai O, Sing Pao reported.
One cow was killed and died at the scene. A photo posted on social media by local residents showed the badly injured cow lying on the side of the road bleeding with three others close by, seemingly wanting to wake their friend up.
Officers from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) sent one of the injured cows for medical treatment while the other injured cow left the scene on her own.
The driver, whose nationality was not known, escaped with a minor injury and she refused to go to hospital for a checkup. But her car was badly damaged, with the windscreen smashed and the bonnet crushed.
A member of Tai O Lantau Island Community Cattle Group named Kathy said the dead cow was called Abby, while the seriously injured cow was named Fred. They were well known by villagers as both had collar tags for identification, news website hk01.com reported.
AFCD officials said there are two main types of stray bovines in Hong Kong: water buffalo and brown cattle, and they are found in rural areas like Sai Kung and Yuen Long in the New Territories and Lantau Island. These beasts are the offspring of animals abandoned by farmers as agricultural activity has declined in recent decades.