Park visitors are unintentionally adding to Hong Kong’s wild pig problem, according to hunting teams, and it may be one reason why there was a 30% increase last year in reports of incidents with the animals.
The Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department recorded 738 cases of pigs being a public nuisance, which was the highest number for five years, Apple Daily reported.
While this may be partly because hunting operations were stopped by the government last year, some believe there is also another reason: Yeung Kai-kyun, a member of a wild pig hunting team, said many people feed the pigs.
It has become a common practice for people visiting Kam Shan Country Park to take along food for the animals, including fruit, biscuits and soybeans. This is despite continuing reports of attacks on people in various parts of the city.
In June last year a 73-year-old man was injured by a wild boar after he had been fishing at Tseung Kwan O in the New Territories. The man, with the surname Lee, said he was riding a bicycle near Lohas Park when the pig hit him on the side, forcing him to crash.
The pig, believed to be about one meter long and weighing 60 kilograms, then bit Lee’s left arm, leaving him with a 10-cm-long scar. A 34-year-old man passing by was also injured.