Gov't Defends Culling Wild Boars

The wild boars were lured down with bread by the authorities

Animal rights groups are up in arms after the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department captured and killed seven wild boars in Wong Chuk Hang.

In plain sight of the media, the AFCD lured the wild pigs with bread -- which the government has repeatedly told the public not to feed them -- and then tranquilized them with dart guns.

Seven wild boars were culled 

It seems the AFCD is now taking drastic action after a wild boar knocked down an auxiliary policeman before biting him in the leg and then the animal plunged 10 stories to its death in a residential car park in Tin Hau last Wednesday.

There had been numerous complaints from the public for the authorities to do something about the wild boars, capture them and take them to remote areas, instead of ignoring the problem and worse having ignorant people feeding the animals as if they were pets. The number of sightings involving wild boars rose from 225 in 2011 to 1,002 last year.

When criticized for using food to lure the wild boars down, Simon Chan Kin-fung, the department's assistant director for conservation said on a radio show: "Even if we did not use food to attract them down from the hill yesterday, they would still come [to urban areas]."

Perhaps what made the optics even worse was that several of the boars had young ones with them when they were "compassionately" put down.

Police officer bit in leg by boar

"Some other parts of the world have been using the hunting method. We are using a very humane way to put down the wild boars, with dart guns and medicine injection. We will continue to use food to capture the wild boars in the city area," Chan said.

Last week the department announced that wild boars in urban areas would be "regularly captured for humane dispatch with a view to reducing their number and nuisance"... in other words cull them.

The previous strategy was to capture them, neuter them so they would not be able to breed and then relocate them to a remote area. 

About 20 staff were involved in capturing and euthanising the seven animals, which weighed between 50k to 170kg.

Chan said the department only targeted wild pigs that were frequently found in urban areas, not the ones in rural places.

However, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals condemned the AFCD for its actions, accusing officials of ignoring suggestions on how to manage the problem.

"The SPCA reiterates that a non-lethal approach to wildlife management is always preferred, and is against the idea of hunting boars, as this has proved to be problematic on several fronts," it said.

The boars had young ones with them last night

Roni Wong Ho-yin, a Hong Kong Wild Boar Concern Group committee member who witnessed the operation, described the use of food to capture the animals as "despicable and bloody".

He said the bait could attract animals that humans were not regularly feeding.

"The department has been educating people not to feed the wild boars," he said. "But they are doing something self-contradictory. This could change the behaviour of some wild boars which are not used to being fed by humans."

Others felt the public must be educated not to feed the animals because it gives them an unnatural food source that encourages them to reproduce. 

So if they are, then it seems they are reproducing at a much faster rate than the AFCD can neuter them, or the authorities are not capturing enough of them to really make an impact on the population numbers.

An artistic impression of the wild boar cull...

In any event, while there was a lot of outrage online, one artist took to his blank page and created a riff off of artist Wang Xingwei's riff off of the Tiananmen Square massacre picture of people riding bicycles and taking two penguins that were shot in the chest.

Instead a Hong Kong artist showed boars riding a bicycle with a wooden board behind, carrying another wounded boar, one in the foreground wearing a yellow helmet and tears dripping from its eye.

Even wild pigs have feelings too...

Escalated Violence by Hong Kong Police

Hundreds gathered in Victoria Park for a rally that soon became a corral

The police gave a no-objection letter to a rally in Victoria Park for candidates running in the upcoming district council elections in November 24. Hundreds of people showed up, many in black, some bundled up prepared to battle the police later.

People had been encouraged to make their way to Central, either Edinburgh Place or Chater Garden, and many were keen to start marching. However, the police were already surrounding the area. In fact many riot police were already inside the Tin Hau and Causeway Bay MTR stations before 3pm, watching people going to Victoria Park.

Pepe the Frog defies the face mask ban in Victoria Park

Once the people started marching, then it would be an excuse for the police to arrest them for unlawful assembly, and for wearing face masks. So this was a police tactic to corral people into one space.

We managed to get out at the north side of the park and went out through a small playground called Tung Lo Wan Park. There were kids playing on the sides and play area and next to them? A group of riot police. No one said a word while passing by them.

However, as we got out roads were blocked here and there which made it harder for people to move westward towards Central. At one point we had no choice but to go into World Trade Center mall and the security staff let people in and we walked out the other way.

As we walked we bumped into a couple who were tourists and looked very worried. We strongly advised them to go back to their hotel and walked with them to the MTR station.

Many people were arrested in Wan Chai

A middle-aged woman walking in front of us had said tear gas had been fired in Causeway Bay and soon I could see a block away on Hennessy Road, a number of riot police running down the street and could hear tear gas fired in the distance. For me that was the queue to leave the area.

Soon after as people headed westward to Wan Chai, there was more tear gas and people were cornered in Southern Playground by the police and forced to crouch with their hands up, or kneel with their hands up, much like what happened to other people in Tuen Mun on Halloween night. These people -- who filled four large coaches -- were sent to the police station.

Other horrific events tonight so far?

A candidate running for the district council elections in Tai Po, Richard Chan, was trying to make sure people were safe while in Victoria Park when he was pepper sprayed by police and then violently tackled to the ground and arrested.

He is known as "Airport Uncle" for standing his ground between the police and activists at Hong Kong International Airport in August. He is running for office for the first time and will surely get more sympathy after how he was treated.

A first aider seriously burned when hit by a tear gas canister

Also in Causeway Bay, a first aider was hit in the back by a tear gas canister. He fell to the ground and his fellow first aiders and a journalist quickly carried him to a safe place. However, when they examined him, they found the skin on his back was seriously burned from the hot tear gas canister and his body went into shock.

Other tear gas canisters were found later to have lodged themselves into the road, they were so hot. It is believed these are made in China and much more dangerous...

Another was a fireman who was angry that a tear gas canister had hit his truck and complained to the police, who then ganged up on him and roughed him up. Reporters on the scene who were trying to film the incident, were pepper sprayed by other police officers and told to go away. No one knows what happened to the fireman.

The same video https://t.co/CKlCBVzC6I pic.twitter.com/U450Pziist

— Damon Pang (@damon_pang) November 2, 2019

 

May we add that today is the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists? Seems like the Hong Kong Police didn't get that memo, and if they did they didn't care.

There are many student journalists covering the protests and have managed to get some incredible footage. However, one young student journalist was interrogated by police, telling him he didn't belong there because he was a student and they demanded he take off his gas mask.

Tear gas canisters melted into the asphalt, they were so hot

For a scrawny kid, he stood his ground and refused, even shouting back at the police. He has quickly learned how to be a tough cookie.

An outrageous incident was when a guy in a Porsche was playing "Glory to Hong Kong", the anthem of the protests in his car. The police found this offensive -- is there no freedom of expression anymore? And literally opened the door and yanked him out of the car, sat on top of him on the ground then arrested him.

The media pack also witnessed some police officers dressed as protesters getting into police vans and strangely the police didn't prevent the reporters from filming this. Guess it's an open secret now...

While the police's performance today has been shocking again, they had their own missteps.

In Wan Chai on Johnston Road by Southern Playground, the police misfired a tear gas canister that landed behind at their colleagues. They were not prepared and there are images of some of them on their knees bent over in pain.

People nearby clapped and hollered.

But there are concerns the Hong Kong government will use the vandalism and violence on the streets to justify postponing the district council elections on November 24, just when people are keen to show where they stand politically...

Halloween is Cancelled

Halloween in Lan Kwai Fong usually brings out revelers in fun costumes

Halloween should be a festive day for people to dress up in fun costumes, pretending to be someone else for a night wearing masks and such. Wearing masks help people to lose their inhibitions and play harmless tricks on people, or get treats.

But with the ongoing anti-government protests where the government has a controversial mask ban in place, Halloween is going to be pathetic this year.

The annual Halloween Fest at Ocean Park is cancelled

Ocean Park has cancelled its big annual Halloween Fest that was planned for tomorrow, and the MTR will have trains running until 11pm, but Prince Edward station will close at 2pm, while Central will close at 9pm -- just when the reveling gets started in Lan Kwai Fong.

The police have planned to have 3,000 officers stationed on Hong Kong Island, complete with three water cannons and god knows how many canisters of tear gas. And of course there will be lots of police at the Chief Executive's Office in Tamar, and at the liaison office in Sai Ying Pun.

Protesters are calling for a march from Victoria Park to Lan Kwai Fong, and the dress code is for participants to wear face masks of government officials. That in itself is amusing.

Will we see scenes like this tomorrow night?

But alas the police are taking no chances and may plan to install road blocks in Tin Hau, Causeway Bay, Wan Chai, Admiralty and Central.

"Members of the public should avoid traveling to concerned areas when public disorder occurs. Police may also close some roads if necessary," the police said in a statement.

We'll have to see what tomorrow brings...

Massive Peaceful Protest

An aerial fish-eye shot of what 1.7 million people look like in Causeway Bay

Into 11 weeks of protests, Hongkongers have not given up... yet.

Organizers say 1.7 million people came out this afternoon to gather for a peaceful demonstration, not only asking for their five demands to be met, including withdrawing the extradition bill, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to resign, and an independent inquiry into police brutality.

Around 3pm the rain came down in buckets

To get an idea of how many people were there, I met my friends outside Tin Hau MTR, but it took me 15 minutes just to get out of the station! There was a massive traffic jam of people from the platform to the escalators that were deliberately turned off so people had to climb up them to get to the exit.

We waited until around 3pm for one more friend but couldn't wait any longer because there were so many people trying to get into Victoria Park (or near impossible at this point). I saw other protesters marching down King's Road so we followed them.

Not long afterwards it started to pour -- like torrential downpour! We immediately put up our umbrellas and could feel the rain quickly seeping into our socks and shoes, while rain from umbrellas dripped onto our backs and arms... I didn't come prepared for that, but luckily wore a quick-dry T-shirt. It was windy too! Who knew it would be hot and then suddenly cool?

The sign says: Hongkongers' spirit will not die!

It pretty much rained for the rest of the day. We literally inched our way towards Sogo again (walk two to three steps then wait several minutes), and then realized that other people were trying to cross horizonally from us to get into Victoria Park. We had to push our way through that massive intersection before we could eventually start walking at a decent pace.

Along the way I saw a couple with their baby, elderly couples, and even people in wheelchairs. The crowd kept going with chants of "Hongkongers add oil!" and "Down with black cops!" Perhaps they had given up on trying to get Carrie Lam to step down...

In the eastbound lane were scores of people in black waiting to get into Victoria Park! Either they had arrived late, or had already done one round walking to Central already and came back to march another round. That's stamina... All those people waited patiently to get to Causeway Bay. The line went as far back as Wan Chai.

Want to check out the fire sale at HMV?

A few shops were open too, like Maxim's Cakes in case someone wanted an afternoon tea break, or how about something more substantial at Michelin-starred Kam's Roast Goose? There was also the bankruptcy sale of HMV going on in an upstairs building.

I forgot to turn on my timer so it took us about 3.5 hours to walk over 4km from Tin Hau to Chater Garden in Central at 6.40pm.

When I got home I was relieved to see on Twitter there weren't any serious incidents happening -- everyone pretty much agreed to be as peaceful as possible to show everyone good will.

The government seems... somewhat pleased.

Walking along Queensway with Pacific Place on the left

In a press release issued at 11pm tonight, it said: "The Government will begin a sincere dialogue with the public, mend social rifts and rebuild social harmony when everything has calmed down."

What does that mean? Lam makes us sound like children again... nevertheless everyone should be pleased no tear gas was fired at all this weekend.

And yes I had to wring out my socks!

Remembering Tiananmen 30 Years Later

The Goddess of Democracy greets attendees

It's hard to believe it's been 30 years since the bloody crackdown on students and Beijing citizens at Tiananmen Square. And even today there are new images, new stories being told, people who now have the courage to share them three decades on.

I attended the candlelight vigil at Victoria Park tonight and was worried about the weather because it rained heavily in the morning. I brought a plastic raincoat just in case as well as plastic bags to sit on, but when we got there, a few drops fell just before 8pm and then stopped. The weather gods were cooperating.

Lots of candles were lit this year in Victoria Park

Organizers say 180,000 people came, well over the 115,000 who were here last year. All six football pitches and the emergency vehicles access areas were all filled. When I left just before 9.30pm and walked towards the Tin Hau MTR station, there were lots of people standing behind the stage with candles. A pretty amazing turnout.

Every year the ceremony is pretty much the same... you have to wonder why we go through the same songs and same speeches. But the eyewitness account by Liane Lee was very moving for me, as I translated for a friend.

She now lives in Toronto, but Lee came to Hong Kong this year to speak about her experience that night in 1989. She said she and other students were at the Beijing Hotel and wanted to go to Tiananmen Square. But when they came down to the lobby, a student rushed in and said the army was going to clear the square.

Lee and the other Hong Kong students refused to budge, but then she could hear from behind the museum gunfire and Lee witnessed bodies on the ground. Later a young high school student came with a giant rock in his hand and said his older brother was killed; he wanted to get back at the PLA.

The event lasted over two and a half hours in Victoria Park

It was at this point a vehicle came to rescue the Hong Kong students and whisk them away. Again Lee said she and the other students were fine and staying put. But a female doctor grabbed her by the hand and said it was not safe for them; she instructed Lee to go back to Hong Kong and tell the world what she had seen.

At this point Lee paused because she was overcome with emotion, but was determined to press on. She said that she goes to the vigil every year in Toronto and remembers the sights and the sounds, the voices that night. She is sad that she doesn't remember the victims' names, but encouraged the crowd that we must continue to persist to remember them and their sacrifice.

This year the Tiananmen Mothers gave a highly charged political speech given by Zhang Xianling. Standing in a group in a video message, Zhang said it heartened the Tiananmen Mothers to see that Hong Kong marked the massacre every year, since they were forbidden to do so on the mainland.

A mini candle vigil where people left their candles burning

"For 30 years, the candlelight has accompanied us through difficult times and warmed our hearts," she says. "It has been 30 years since the crackdown. On that bloody night, the sounds of the gun shots... have forever stayed in our minds. The Chinese government cannot just wipe away the bloodshed by branding it as 'political turmoil'," she adds.

Zhang also vented her frustration of the police preventing them from properly mourning the loss of their sons and daughters, and that the Chinese government has to be accountable for what happened 30 years ago.

Since 1989, 57 of the parents who are part of the Tiananmen Mothers group have passed away; some of their portraits were shown on the screen to also remember them.

Singer and music producer Anthony Wong Yiu-ming also came on stage. He said every year he came as an attendee but this year he was on stage because "one country, two systems" almost doesn't exist anymore.

"For the past 30 years, I have never come on this stage. I am not used to joining protests or chanting slogans," he says before singing Memories of Guilt.

Another new item was a video called "I am a journalist. My June 4 story", with clips of reporters, editors and photographers recalling their experiences covering the massacre.



The trailer goes by fast, but there are other video testimonies available on YouTube.

Carrie Lam mocked as a Communist

One of them was Arthur Tsang, a photographer who took the iconic tank man photo, but his was released after fellow photojournalist Jeff Widener's, which is the one most people know of.

The police have said attendance tonight was 37,000 which is absolutely ridiculous... how will Chief Executive Carrie Lam explain this to Beijing?

A Taste of Xinjiang in Tin Hau

Skewers with lamb chops marinated in lots of cumin

A few months ago I read about a Xinjiang restaurant in Tin Hau and finally got a chance to try it out tonight with two other friends.

It's called Tin Saan, as in "sky mountain" and it's closer to Fortress Hill than Tin Hau MTR station.

Braised lamb chops with vegetables and bread

Inside it's bright and cheery, but a bit odd there is no Uyghur music playing in the background, but muzak. Nevertheless the food makes up for the sterile atmosphere.

We perused the menu, and the owner was helpful in giving us some guidance. The lamb pockets -- minced lamb mixed with leek into a patty and encased in a pastry that was deep-fried was fantastic.

Traditional skewers of grilled lamb marinated in chilli and ground cumin were also delicious. We liked the long metal (and reusable) skewers. They came in orders of four and we had eight in total.

Braised lamb also looked interesting. Chunks of lamb ribs were presented in a large bowl with a soupy sauce mixed with tomato, carrots, peppers. Around the edge were deep-fried round breads that were sliced in half, soaking up the delicious sauce.

Thin potato strips stir-fried with chillis

For some relief from the lamb we had cucumber marinated in vinegar and chilli with lots of garlic, and thin strips of potato blanched and then stir-fried with fresh chillis. The potato strips weren't thin enough, nor were they marinated in a wet sauce.Nevertheless they still were delicious, and it was all washed down with three large bottles of Tsing Tao.

In the end the bill came to HK$777 for three.

Tin Saan

G/F, Hoi Sun Building

12 Mercury Street

Tin Hau
2805 6130

Picture of the Day: Please Fill in the Blank

Have you seen this car? Please tell me what it means!

Last night my friend YTSL went to Tin Hau for Chinese dessert when we spotted this van with this strange vanity license plate.

What does it mean?

Please let me into the lane? Or please hurry up? Or please have some manners?

Or is the vehicle owner inviting people to come up with their own phrases? Like please go away, or please follow me, or please mind your own business?

Give us your suggestions!

Nice Day for a 10K Run

Finally making it to the starting line before starting the 10K run

I went to bed early hoping to get a decent night's sleep, but was a bit anxious about running the 10K in the Standard Chartered Marathon. While my start time wasn't too early, I still had to wake up early to get ready and get to the site.

When I ran it in 2015, I overdressed and got overheated, resulting in me walking twice to catch my breath. This time I followed what other experienced runners do -- wear a plastic rain poncho to keep warm.

Several thousand people ran together this morning

And it pretty much did the job, and the weather cooperated as well. However, I drank a bit too much water in the morning and had to go line up for the porta-potty three times...!

By the time I got to the starting line -- I was way, way back. It took me five minutes just to walk to the starting line. And then we were off! But the first almost two kilometres were crazy, dodging people and trying to get some rhythm in my pace. It was hard, thanks to the narrow road (one lane was closed off because of construction), and so it took a while just to jockey out of the crowd.

At first my hands were very cold -- I had shake them periodically to get the blood circulating. The sun was out and so it was nice to be in the shade thanks to buildings covering the sunshine.

In about half an hour we reached and passed the Film Archive building in Sai Wan Ho and turned around to go back. The highway was undulating up and down. I just tried to keep my pace. At the five-kilometre mark I looked at my phone that had an app tracking my progress and it was at 33 minutes. Pretty good.

The view this morning from Tin Hau starting point

Soon it was 6km, 7km... and there were more people walking. I've said this before, but it bears repeating -- people who plan to walk, should move off to the side so that they don't get in the way of runners, particularly in the beginning. But by this point we were decently spread out and I was catching up to people who had been up in the front.

There were also people taking pictures at each sign that indicated which kilometre we were at. Really? Don't you want to run as fast as you can and not waste time taking pictures with your friends?

Past the 8km mark was the second drinks station and the end was in sight. I even saw one of my colleagues and shouted his name and waved to him, and he took some pictures of me...

Just past 9km, I was starting to get really tired, but I had to tell myself to keep going because it was almost over. Getting onto the on ramp (actually the cars use it as an off ramp) was tough because it was pretty steep, but I kept my pace. Many people were walking at this point, others began running again at the top because it was downhill from there.

It took me five minutes to walk to the starting line!

When I turned into Victoria Park towards the finish line I tried to run as fast as I could. The time on my phone? 1:06:17. My official time is 1:06:19.

I shaved off several seconds from my 2014 time, and several minutes from 2015.

Interestingly I wasn't as exhausted as I was before, perhaps because I have been training so hard for this race in the last month or so. But the real test will be tomorrow and see how my thighs are doing.

For a recreational runner I'm pleased with the result and the weather conditions were just perfect for running today.