Seven wild boars were caught and killed through drug injection on Wednesday evening in the first "capture-and-kill" operation at Wong Chuk Hang.
Police and Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) officers were deployed to Shum Wan Road, less than a week after authorities last Friday announced they will capture wild boars in urban areas regularly for killing.
Police on Wednesday received 10 reports of wild pigs found by the public as of 6 pm, reaching the highest number of reports on spotting wild pigs in a day since the regular capturing operation was announced.
In the morning, five wild boars were spotted sleeping beside the pedestrian road at Shum Wan Road near Water World Ocean Park.
Their presence was notified by the police at around 11 am, police have monitored them from a distance and notified the AFCD.
Another report was filed at 7 pm, saying at least five wild boars were finding food around the hill at Shum Wan Road.
When police arrived at the scheme, three wild boars were behind a metal fence. Officers attempted to trap the two boars on the road but were unsuccessful.
AFCD staffers then used bread to lure the two wild boars. Then a vet shot them with a tranquilizer gun, leading to their capture.
As of 10pm, staffers have captured seven wild boars in the area. The operation is continuing. The government then confirmed that the seven captured wild boars were killed through drug injection.
Hong Kong Wild Boar Concern Group’s Roni Wong Ho-yin showed up at the scene to protest.
Wong, taken away by police from the scene, said the all Hongkongers are furious when hearing the capture-and-kill policy, asking how could the government step back from the capture-and-sterilize policy announced in 2017.
“That program was doing fine – officers capture and sterilize the wild boars first and released them back to nature. The world's first ever program of its kind which was welcomed by all citizens and environmental organizations,” he said.
“Today they kill the boar, tomorrow they will kill the cats, dogs, turtles or even the gulls and the cows. What is this government doing? It is your management problem for failing to allocate more resources to tackle the matter peacefully. And now the boars have to pay for that!” Wong slammed.
“Don't they try and shift all the responsibilities on the boars and the environmental activists. I hope the government will deal with the issue in a peaceful and rational way,” he added.
Wong then chanted slogans in opposition to humane dispatch of boars and hunting them. He stayed for around five more minutes and left shortly after.
Last month, an online video showed around 20 wild boars running behind a moving red taxi at Shum Wan Road at night.
AFCD last Friday announced to regularly capture and kill wild boars in the urban area to reduce their number and nuisance.
Simon Chan Kin-fung, assistant director of the AFCD, said on Monday that the latest measure only targets wild boars in the urban area, not those in the countryside.
He added AFCD aims to have five official operations per month to catch wild boars and will prioritize capturing boars in areas where there are large numbers of pigs, having cases of injuries being reported or where boars could bring potential danger to the public.
