Hungry Cows Raid Supermarket

Three bulls wandered into a supermarket and started munching on fruit

Many Hong Kong people are terrified when they come across animals -- even domesticated dogs -- because they haven't been exposed to them much. They really don't know what to do and are paralyzed with fear.

So if they go to the outlying islands, particularly Mui Wo, they will be shocked to see feral cows wandering through the village, or walking along the beach.

After having their fill, the bulls left the supermarket

The best precaution is to mind your own business and let them go on their way.

But what do you do when they enter a supermarket?

That's what three of them did Thursday night in Mui Wo -- they entered a ParknShop there and began grazing on fruits like apples, pears and cherries on the shelves.

The supermarket staff contacted police, and when the bulls finally left, the contaminated produce was disposed of and the area where they were munching on was disinfected.

While some may have found the incident amusing, animal welfare activists say it's a warning of more of these events to come.

"A lot of farmland has been turned into soccer fields or warehouses in recent years. The bulls simply do not have enough room to rest and not enough grass to eat," says Ho Loy, chairwoman of the Lantau Buffalo Association.

Humans are encroaching further onto the cows' grazing areas

She said some grass areas had been polluted by the illegal dumping of waste, which the government failed to prosecute effectively, and with the increasing numbers of tourists and residents in the area, the wild animals have become less inhibited and gotten used to human feeding them.

They, like creatures in the sea, are unable to discern plastic from real food. In November, an eight-year-old bull named Billy who lived on Pui O beach on Mui Wo, was found dead -- his stomach and intestinal tract were blocked with enough plastic bags to fill two garbage cans.

Shocking?

This is definitely a sign we are encroaching too far into animal habitat and we are leaving too much inedible waste for them to mistakenly eat.