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| Up close and personal |
On the second day of Lunar New Year, my hope of enjoying hiking at one of Hong Kong's country parks with my children (aged 6 and 8) became a minor ordeal . A short time after we alighted the bus at Kowloon Reservoir station, we were accosted by a very aggressive monkey which came after the snacks in the hands of my children. The snarling beast not only succeeded in having my children in tears, it then came baring its teeth at me when I blocked its path to my sons. Fortunately, I was able to leave without causing it physical harm.
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Feeding of wild monkeys is forbidden.
up to $10,000 fine if convicted |
The boys had just began to recover from the shock by the time we reached the nearby
Shing Mun Reservoir. There, I was encouraged to see banners and posters in abundance warning of the dangers and penalties for feeding the wild animals. However, on entering the
Kam Shan Park area, I was horrified to witness people flagrantly flouting the prohibition worthy of a HK$10,000 (US$1,280) fine. It seems that families, in their ignorance of physical risks posed to walkers, continue to amuse their children with drive-by monkey-feeding from the safety of their vehicles. Angered by our ordeal, I attempted to warn the occupants of one such vehicle against throwing food to monkeys, but in vain.
Something which carries a $10,000 fine is clearly no small matter, but it strikes me that the the policy is marred by half-hearted execution by officials. On a day when drive-by feeding is highly foreseeable, it is likely that park staff were also enjoying their holiday. We did not we see any inspectors, park wardens or other such staff at any time that day. Incidentally, we spent the whole day there on 9 February, and the level of patrolling was equally non-existent. A small number of uniformed staff close to the park entrance would have had a strong deterrent effect, their presence would also have been largely self-financing. Furthermore, I feel banning vehicles inside the parks would also help eliminate drive-by feeding. The growing monkey population is clearly not a problem that will go away. A policy of culling will be highly unpopular, but can be avoided by much stricter execution of the feeding-ban. Another alternative may be to turn a blind eye to monkey poachers from the mainland... ;-)
