Editorial | Balance needed in dealing with Hong Kong’s wild boars
- The government must soon determine a target population size for the animals and shift into population management, lest the culling programme become an extermination plan
Wild boars have roamed the Hong Kong country parks for years and it has been common to see them along one of the hundreds of kilometres of trails.
But with interaction came familiarity, and combined with encroachment of humans into their natural habitat, an inevitable rise in conflicts followed. A cull launched in 2021 appears to have been highly effective.
The incidents involving humans and boars are real. In October, for example, a 55kg (121lb) boar entered a Mong Kok flower shop and bit the owner who had tried to drag it out by the ears. It was captured and euthanised, but not before a police officer struck it with a baton. Others have boarded MTR trains or sneaked into restaurants.
In response, Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department officials initially tried to capture, sterilise and release the animals, but found they could not keep pace with the breeding.
A sow can give birth to up to 16 piglets in 16 months. Some males can weigh 200kg. So in 2021, after a police officer was bitten by a boar, the Hong Kong authorities began to cull the animals, then estimated at about 2,500.
