AFCD concerned about injury case caused by wild pig
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The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) is very concerned about an incident today (October 21) where a wild pig injured a member of the public in Mong Kok Flower Market.
The AFCD received a referral from the Police this morning regarding a wild pig found in Mong Kok Flower Market. The Department immediately sent a dedicated team to the scene to follow up and found a wild pig upon arrival. During the incident, the wild pig dashed into a flower shop on Yuen Ngai Street and injured a member of the public. An AFCD veterinarian anesthetised the wild pig with a tranquiliser gun and captured it.
The concerned wild pig is an adult female weighing about 55 kilograms with a body length of about 1.2 metre. Considering that the wild pig had attacked members of the public and its continual presence in urban areas would pose a danger to the public, the AFCD officers dispatched it humanely to safeguard public safety.
To safeguard public safety and maintain public hygiene, the AFCD implemented new measures in November 2021 to capture the wild pigs for humane dispatch at sites with presence of large numbers of wild pigs, with cases of wild pigs injuring citizens, or with wild pigs posing risks to members of the public. Furthermore, the AFCD also conducts operations to capture the wild pigs upon receiving wild pig sighting reports in urban areas or near residential areas from the public or other government departments. During the operations, the AFCD officers use dart guns with anaesthetics to capture the wild pigs, and perform humane dispatch on them through medicine injection.
An AFCD spokesman said, “Since the implementation of the new measures, a total of over 670 wild pigs have been humanely dispatched, with the number of wild pig nuisance blackspots decreased from 63 in 2021 to 28 as of today. There has also been a downward trend in the number of public reports of wild pig sightings or nuisances received by the AFCD, from over 1 400 cases in 2021 to about 1 100 cases in 2022. The number of cases this year as of September 2023 was about 770. Furthermore, the number of injury cases caused by wild pigs has decreased from 20 cases in 2021 and 36 cases in 2022, to eight cases in 2023 as of today.”
The spokesman further said, “The AFCD is very concerned about the incident of a wild pig injuring a citizen. The department expresses sympathies to the injured and hopes that he will recover soon.”
He reminded the public to stay calm upon encountering wild pigs, refrain from approaching and disturbing them, and do not throw any objects at them or drive them away so as not to provoke the wild pigs and cause danger. If necessary, the public may hide behind obstacles and wait for the wild pigs to leave before proceeding. If wild pigs pose an immediate threat to personal safety, please call 999 immediately for help.
The spokesman pointed out that the amended Wild Animals Protection Ordinance (Cap. 170) has extended the feeding ban area for wild animals to the entire territory of Hong Kong. Anyone who illegally feeds wild animals (including wild pigs) shall be liable to a fine of $10,000 upon conviction. The Government hopes to be able to introduce an amendment bill into the Legislative Council within this year for further amendments to the Ordinance, with a view to regulating activities of feeding feral pigeons, increasing the maximum penalty for illegal feeding, and introducing a fixed penalty.
The spokesman reiterated that the AFCD will continue to implement wild pig capture and dispatch operations to reduce wild pig nuisances, and strengthen law enforcement on wild pig feeding activities to reduce the incentives that attract wild pigs to appear in urban areas or near residential areas. He appealed to the public not to feed wild animals so as not to change their natural habits and disrupt the ecological balance, and cause problems such as environmental hygiene and nuisances.
