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Following is a question by the Hon Leung Che-cheung and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (January 7):
Question:
According to a paper submitted by the authorities to the Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene of this Council last month, there were approximately 1 100 heads of stray cattle in Hong Kong in 2013 and, among them, around 57% were "rural/wild" herds and 43% were "town" herds. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of a breakdown of the current number of stray cattle in the districts listed in the table below by whether they belong to (i) the "rural/wild" herds, or (ii) the "town" herds, and whether they are buffalo or brown cattle (set out the breakdown in the table below);
Buffalo Brown cattle
Lantau Island (i)
(ii)
Ma On Shan/Sai Kung (i)
(ii)
Northwest New (i)
Territories (ii)
Central New (i)
Territories (ii)
(2) of the specific places of distribution of stray cattle belonging to the "rural/wild" herds and those belonging to the "town" herds respectively at present, with indication of the locations of such places on a map;
(3) of the number of traffic accidents involving stray cattle in each of the past three years, and the number of resultant deaths of stray cattle;
(4) of the number of stray cattle caught by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by handling method (e.g. sale by auction, adoption by farms and euthanasia); and
(5) whether AFCD has plans to have all the stray cattle sterilised under the "Capture-Sterilise-Relocate" programme; whether it has set an annual target and implementation timetable for the sterilisation programme; of the number of cattle to be sterilised by AFCD each year based on the current resources and implementation progress of the programme?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) According to a territory-wide population survey on stray cattle conducted in 2013, there were approximately 1 100 heads of stray brown cattle in Hong Kong. They were primarily distributed in four areas, namely Lantau Island, Sai Kung/Ma On Shan, Northeast New Territories and Central New Territories. Around 57% of them were considered as belonging to the "rural/wild" herds and 43% as "town" herds. More than 70% of the cattle observed under the survey were adults, 23% were adolescents and juveniles, and 7% were calves. Males (49%) and females (51%) constituted similar proportions of the cattle population. In addition, there were about 120 heads of buffalo in Hong Kong.
Based on the above statistics, the number of stray cattle belonging to (i) "rural/wild" herds and (ii) "town" herds respectively in 2013 is set out below:
District/ Buffalo Brown cattle
Type of bovine (Note 1)
Lantau Island 75 (i) 125
(ii) 100
Ma On Shan/Sai Kung 0 (i) 260
(ii) 190
Northeast New 0 (i) 235
Territories (Note 2) (ii) 0
Central New 45 (i) 200
Territories (Note 2) (ii) 0
Note 1: We have not classified buffalo into "rural/wild" or "town" herds.
Note 2: Stray cattle in the New Territories are mainly found in rural areas in Northeast New Territories and Central New Territories. They all belong to "rural/wild" herds.
(2) The above statistics show that "rural/wild" herds of cattle were mainly found in Northeast New Territories and Central New Territories, as well as the country parks in Lantau Island and Ma On Shan/Sai Kung areas. The distribution of stray cattle in Hong Kong is shown in Annex.
(3) The government departments concerned have not separately kept statistics on the number of traffic incidents involving stray cattle in Hong Kong.
(4) To address public nuisances caused by stray cattle and prevent a further surge in cattle population, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has established a protocol and adopted a catch and removal strategy. In general, once a removed stray cow/bull is confirmed to be unclaimed by any owner, it may be sold to farmers by auction or rehomed with suitable leisure farms. If the cattle concerned are not suitable for disposal by these means, humane euthanasia may be administered by veterinary officers of AFCD. For injured cattle, veterinary officers of AFCD will assess the degree of injury and decide on euthanasia or disposal by the abovementioned way of auction or rehoming as appropriate.
From November 2011 to October 2014, AFCD captured 531 heads of stray brown cattle and buffalo in the territory. Discounting the number of repeated capture, 409 cattle were caught in total. Among them, 282 were sterilised and relocated, 5 rehomed with farms or the World Wild Fund, and 122 euthanised.
(5) In response to calls from society for better management of the stray cattle population in the long term, AFCD has supplemented the catch and removal strategy with a multi-pronged stray cattle management mechanism which takes into account the different characteristics of individual districts. This includes the Capture-Sterilise-Relocate programme launched in November 2011. Under the programme, AFCD officers will take proactive action to capture stray cattle, have the cattle sterilised and ear-tagged for identification, and then relocate them to a more remote location in the same district. From November 2011 to October 2014, AFCD sterilised about 282 brown cattle and buffalo, i.e. around 100 cattle each year on average.
Over the past few years, AFCD has been collecting data about cattle population and distribution through territory-wide surveys on cattle population and regular on-site inspections. The department will continue to monitor the cattle population. In particular, it will keep a close watch over the population and distribution of sterilised and relocated cattle as well as the number of cattle-related complaints for the purpose of formulating long-term sterilisation targets or implementation timetable. AFCD will also take into account the views of different stakeholders when deciding whether and how to adjust the Capture-Sterilise-Relocate programme for tackling nuisances caused by stray cattle to the public, especially local residents and road users.
Ends/Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:12
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