In early November 2021, there was a collision between a man and a cow on Lantau Island: Two buffaloes in Pui O ran into schoolchildren while chasing on the road, and one of them was taken away by the authorities for sterilization.
The incident aroused public concern about cattle management and conservation. Some people claimed that cattle endangered road safety and called on the government to try to remove cattle. Someone tried their best to escort cattle for their right to live. The two voices are constantly intertwining and arguing—— In the concrete jungle of Hong Kong, can humans and cows coexist?
We walked into Mui Wo and Sai Kung to find two "niu mothers" who were on the opposite side of each other, and listened to them talking about the plight of cattle coming to Hong Kong, and their stories of guarding the buffalo and cattle herd over the years.
Editor｜Han Zhuotong Li Chuqian Photography｜Han Zhuotong Li Chuqian
It was sunny and sunny this afternoon, and two buffaloes were resting on the wetland next to Mui Wo Village and enjoying the sun leisurely.
Soon, several foreign children ran into the wetland to play, which seemed to make the water buffalo a little frightened. One of them walked away slowly when the boy approached and staged a funny drama of "water buffalo hiding from others."
He said, Chairman of the Lantau Buffalo Protection Association:
Buffalo live in wetlands most of the time. They are very afraid of people and will actively avoid people, so they will not have the motivation to attack people.
On November 4, an old bull king named "Lonely Spirit" and a new bull king "Big Eye Boy" chased near Luo Uk Village in Pui O. During the course, they crossed the road and then rushed to the pavement and hit the schoolchildren. , Three school children were injured and sent to hospital.
What drove the shy buffalo, who would not leave the habitat at will, to run out of the road and hit passers-by?
He Laiyi sternly stated that it was because of the "human problem" that the habitat of buffaloes was drastically reduced, which in turn changed their range of activities.
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Buffalo has nowhere to live in the wetland
The water buffalo is the same as the scalper commonly seen in public outings. It was originally the cattle of Hong Kong rice farmers. It was abandoned in the 1970s due to the decline of agriculture.
Compared with the short and straight horns of the ox, the horns of the buffalo are thick and curved, like a sickle placed horizontally.
The number of buffaloes is also relatively small. There are currently about 160 in Hong Kong, of which 120 live on Lantau Island.
How Lai lamented that under the "Lantau Tomorrow" plan, South Lantau was supposed to be a key conservation area, but tourism development has drastically reduced the buffalo habitat.
The Pui O Wetland, a three-minute walk from Lo Uk Village, where the incident occurred, although it has extremely high ecological value and was designated as a "coastal protection area" by the government, it was severely damaged by illegal dumping of mud. It was built in violation of the contract, and the wetland gradually dried up into dry land with no grass.
In the same year, the City Planning Association issued two warning letters requesting that the camps be demolished, otherwise the deeds would be nailed down. However, this magazine checked its official website and found that the camps involved had not been closed until January 1st because of "internal works." "Suspend business.
He Lai said that there were two herds of more than 50 buffaloes at the peak of the Pui O Wetland. Now there are less than 40 buffaloes, and the rest go to Mui Wo and Shuikou.
In the "Sustainable Lantau Blueprint", the government recommends the development of sustainable tourism, including the construction of a theme camp, water sports center and cycling and mountain bike trails in Pui O before 2023, which means that the living space of buffalo may be further narrowed.
The policy favors development and neglects conservation, and divides the buffalo's comfort zone into pieces. In the end, the buffalo will inevitably leave the habitat and set foot on the "human place" when competing for territory or foraging, increasing the risk of human-cattle conflict.
Relocating to a barren land, the scalpers are struggling
In Saigon, the scalpers were also forced to leave their homes.
In order to reduce the traffic nuisance caused by cattle, the Fisheries and Conservation Department has implemented a "catch, sterilize, and relocate" program since 2011. The cattle are moved to country parks in the same area away from residential buildings. The Chong Hing Aquatic Outdoor Center (Chong Hing) is One of the migration destinations.
At 10 o'clock in the morning, Fanny, the head of the Cattle Concern Group in the 14th Village of Saigon, dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and sun hat, hurriedly greeted reporters, walked towards more than 50 scalpers alone, and began to send grass.
After more than ten times back and forth, Fanny took out boards after boards of hay from the tail box of the taxi and placed them next to the cattle herd.
The cows did not swarm into the haystack, but ate in an orderly manner.
Chong Hing is located in Sai Kung East Country Park, near the West Dam of the Mani Reservoir. It is off the beaten track. Except for Fanny's taxis, no other vehicles drove in throughout the morning.
In this way, cows will not block the road, but can also live freely. Chong Hing can be said to be a "win-win situation for both people and cows", right?
But Fanny said that the lack of food for cattle has made them thin and weak due to hunger.
The grass that grows to the waist is seen at the scene, but the heart-leaf Huanghuamin and the awn, which are not suitable for cattle:
It is a plant, not a cow's food. If there is something that can be eaten, it would have been eaten up by the cow long ago. How can there be such a lush haystack?
Fanny came to visit first five years ago and saw the bleak life of the cattle.
Forced to separate young cattle since childhood, lack of social skills
In September 2016, Fanny witnessed a three-month-old calf taken away by the Fisheries and Conservation Department in front of his home in Shisi Township, Saigon. Since then, he has been concerned about the whereabouts of the cattle.
She called the Fisheries and Conservation Department to inquire about the condition of the young cattle, and finally found that it had been moved to Chong Hing.
In November of the same year, she went to Chong Hing, 17 kilometers away from her home, to observe for the first time and found that the grass there was too short for cattle to eat. The grass is lower than the cows and sheep", the grass is taller than a sitting cow, so it can be called grass!" Fanny lamented that the young cow became skinny after the relocation. After three months, he visited Chong Hing and he no longer saw it. , The cow who was not taken away did not know whether the child was alive, but still mourned in the village every day.
Similar incidents abound.
Being moved out of the original family prematurely, Fanny said that the cattle were also unable to integrate into the new group due to their lack of experience in getting along with their kind.
On the day of the interview, the reporter observed that a cow was clearly far away from the herd. Fanny referred to it as "Xiao Zhao". It was only a few months old five years ago. Before he learned how to live in a group, he was captured and sterilized and moved here alone. Parents separate two places.
As a result, it doesn't know how to communicate with other cattle. It has been "lonely" for five years and is often rejected by the cattle herd.
Even when Fanny sent grass, it hid a corner, and only dared to approach the haystack when the cattle were full.
When replying to this journal’s query, the Fisheries and Conservation Department stated that it would try to capture the cows and their suckling calves together. Before the relocation, they had also conducted a field visit to confirm that Chong Hing has sufficient natural resources for the cows to sustain their lives.
The department discourages the public from feeding cattle, saying that it will have a negative impact on the health of the cattle and make them lose their instinct to forage in the wild.
Can't bear the scalper fends for itself and loses money to send grass for five years
However, in Fanny's eyes, if Chong Hing's cattle are born and raised, they will only starve to death. She set up a concern group in 2016 to follow up on the village and Chong Hing's cattle, and buy grass at her own expense every week. Let them "satisfy, at least like a cow."
However, the expense is huge. A board of 600 kilograms of hay costs 4,700 yuan. Two boards of hay can only be eaten by Chong Hing 100 cattle for three days. The trip cost more than 5,000 yuan, and the monthly fee is about 50,000 yuan.
Fanny was originally a civilian, but the cost of distributing grass has already exceeded his salary and can only rely on savings to subsidize him. Fortunately, many citizens have donated grass in recent years.
For the cows, Fanny completely changed her past life habits: cut off her long hair, no longer put on makeup and beauty, and buy brand-name items.
Wearing a cartoon shirt and carrying a purse, she laughed and said that for the cows to really "wash out the lead", she became very simple, because "it is a heart of compassion, a word of love, if you don't have love, you can't Keep going. If you feel capable, do your best."
Hostile people born out of fear are more dangerous than cows
In addition to worrying about the cattle's diet, Fanny is also afraid of people with ulterior motives to harm them:
Many people don't like animals, and (they think) it is sinful for cows to eat grass.
She reluctantly said that after seeing a cow grazing in Pak Tam Chung recently, she wrote to the Fisheries and Conservation Department to complain that the cow had damaged the environment and had to be punished.
Volunteers from He Lai He Niu Association also encountered a similar incident at Tap Mun in Saigon last week.
At that time, a bull suddenly appeared in front of a family, which made his father very frightened. In order to protect the safety of the baby, he immediately picked up the stick and waved at the bull. Fortunately, the volunteers of the Bull Association rushed to stop him and taught him how to deal with bulls. Method: "If you think that the cow will only rush towards the baby, what you have to do is pick up the baby and leave instead of beating the cow with a stick." However, the family was even more excited after hearing it. Fight, but we all insist on telling them (what is ecological responsibility)".
Folks’ fear of active education stems from incomprehension
He has served in the cattle club for more than 16 years. It is commonplace to deal with conflicts between humans and cattle. However, she turned out to be a young man who is afraid of cattle.
She recalled that she had just moved to Mui Wo 30 years ago and once met a buffalo on a narrow road. At that time, she had to call a friend for help even when she met a dog. She was so scared that she squatted on the ground, but the buffalo stopped and stared at her. Later, she turned her head slowly: "It used a very subtle move to tell me that it won't hurt me." She immediately passed behind the buffalo, and the buffalo slowly walked away in the other direction.
This experience shocked He Lai. For the first time, she learned that animals have the ability to understand and also inspired her how to get along with animals:
Why are we afraid when we see animals?
Where does this psychological barrier come from?
On the other hand, don’t they fear us?
How fortunate to see that the accident of a buffalo hitting schoolchildren did not arouse social hostility towards the cow. However, it is still necessary to "buy time" to raise the awareness of conservation of the government and the public.
Since its establishment in 2003, the Niu Club has adopted policy initiatives and public education as its main strategies.
At present, the Niu Club holds monthly workshops to train volunteers to be capable of handling minor buffalo injuries during inspections and to explain the knowledge of buffalo ecology to the public.
He Lai will also share interesting buffalo stories on social media, hoping to arouse public discussion: "If everyone does not say this, it is difficult for us to say that "everyone has a share in the same road."
Reshape the relationship between humans and cattle to achieve sustainable development
Who occupies whose way?
From the point of view that Fanny substituted the cow, he said, "There is my home! You built a road in my mountain for no reason, and you said it was your home? There is my living room and my toilet!" Only with human rights is equal, and the right to continue to live here and be free from harassment needs to be respected.” She emphasized that species conservation is environmental conservation, and humans must be in line with the environment, otherwise sustainable development will only become a joke.
Pui O’s veteran cattle king was threatened by a sterilization group. The Fisheries and Conservation Department’s damage to the cattle failed to catch the cattle king. The Saigon cattle were wearing GPS neckbands and they cried. With struggling and weeping fishery and Conservation Department: Experiments to detect the location of bison to avoid traffic accidents. Tamen desertified cattle have no grass to eat. They rely on tourists to feed cattle. Mothers and children have unfortunately died one after another. Sick wound
[This article was reprinted with authorization from the intern journal of the School of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, "University Line". Original: Who is occupying whose path?
The survival dilemma of Hong Kong cattle]