The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) is very concerned about an incident today (October 5) where a wild pig injured members of the public on Stubbs Road.

     The AFCD received a referral from the Police this morning regarding a wild pig injuring six members of the public at a construction site on Stubbs Road. The department immediately sent a dedicated team comprising 10 members to the scene with a view to capturing the wild pig concerned. A wild pig was found upon arrival but escaped from the site in the end. The AFCD team, with the assistance of the Police, continued to search in the nearby hillside areas and set up a trapping device at scene. The AFCD has captured and humanely dispatched a total of eight wild pigs in Stubbs Road so far this year, and will continue to monitor the occurrence of wild pigs in the concerned area, including conducting a capture operation at Stubbs Road and other locations tonight.

     To safeguard public safety and maintain public hygiene, the AFCD implemented new measures in November 2021 to capture wild pigs for humane dispatching from sites with 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 conducts operations to capture wild pigs upon receipt of wild pig sighting reports in urban areas or near residential areas from the public or other government departments to reduce the potential threats or nuisances the wild pig may pose to the public. During the operations, AFCD officers will use dart guns with anaesthetics to capture the wild pigs, and perform humane dispatching on them through an injection of medicine.

     An AFCD spokesman said, "Since the implementation of the new measures, a total of over 630 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 five cases in 2023 as of today."

     The spokesman further said, "The AFCD is very concerned about the incident of a wild pig injuring citizens. The department expresses sympathies to the injured and hopes that they 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 strengthen the implementation of 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.

Ends/Thursday, October 5, 2023
Issued at HKT 20:02

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