(CN) Feral cows in Hong Kong

[Guest guest]

South China Morning Post

http://www.scmp.com/

Friday January 3 2003

 

Bovine intervention

 

A woman who is devoting her life to saving Hong Kong's stray cattle

now faces losing her beloved herd. Sherry Lee reports:

 

WANDERING AROUND a grassy field in Yuen Long on a recent cold, wet

morning, a woman in a yellow raincoat and rubber boots calls fondly to her

charges.

 

'Intelligence, are you eating happily?' she asks through a microphone

and mini loudspeaker strapped to her chest. 'Don't walk so fast, Lucky; woo

hoo, woo hoo, follow the others, Caring Fortune Baby.'

 

The hills come alive every morning to the sound of 50-year-old Au

Yeung Sin-yu, who tends a herd of cows abandoned or rescued from the

Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) before they were

sent to the slaughterhouse.

 

Yeung Yeung, as she is known to friends, is probably Hong Kong's most

famous cow guardian. She started her cattle-saving fight six years ago and

now cares for 43 on a 'farm' she will soon have to vacate. Her priority is

to find an alternative 250,000-sq-ft to 300,000-sq-ft plot of land - a quest

publicised last year when the plight of her cows and other wild bovine

became part of a campaign by concerned groups.

 

Since the 1970s, the problem of abandoned livestock has been

exacerbated by development of the countryside and urban migration of

farmers. The AFCD estimates 800 cows and 150 buffaloes are roaming 'free',

mostly in Pui O, Kam Tin, Sai Kung and Tai Mo Shan in the New Territories.

In the past three years, the department has captured more than 800 strays -

some after complaints were filed by residents. Most were sold to meat

traders.

 

Au Yeung employs three full-time and three part-time helpers to care

for her cows, and works from dawn to dusk. She wakes at 4am every day and

catches a cab from the flat she shares with a friend in Yuen Long to her

plot of land the size of two basketball courts on Tai Tong Shan Road. After

walking the cows, she spends the afternoon cutting grass for feed. When the

work is done, she heads back to town to collect extra food for the beasts:

sugar cane, fruit and carrots thrown out by juice shops. Every Friday, Au

Yeung delivers fresh grass to impounded cows at the Shek Wui Hui Government

Kennels in Sheung Shui. She also checks on cattle living in the wild.

 

Though sympathetic to her plight, the executive director of the

Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Chris Hanselman, does not

support the corralling of wild cows. 'What this lady is doing is not a

viable option for the cows in the long term,' he says. 'Cattle corralling is

very expensive, and you need a lot of land and a lot of money to make sure

the animals are well nourished.' He also says there is an increased risk of

disease spreading among the animals.

 

Hanselman says stray cattle do not pose a big enough problem for the

government to have to kill the animals and says some residents believe they

add to the charm of the New Territories. He says cattle can be de-sexed in

the wild if numbers have to be reduced - a position the AFCD does not take

because officials say it would not solve the problem of cattle straying on

to roads or other places where they are not wanted.

 

Admitting her solution is only short-term, Au Yeung says her farm is

the only way to prevent the cows from being slaughtered. She will continue

to press the government to put aside land for them.

 

A Buddhist and vegetarian since childhood, Au Yeung says 'we should

respect all lives', and be grateful for the contribution cows have made to

Hong Kong's agricultural past. 'Cows have worked hard for us for so many

years,' she says. 'They should have a right to survive.'

 

Although Au Yeung realises she may appear 'crazy' - she plays her cows

Buddhist chants from a cassette player on her farm 'to make them kinder' -

she cares little about what others think. She worries, however, about

causing her family grief. The eldest of three born to a wealthy family, Au

Yeung does not have much to do with her relatives, except when she needs to

borrow money for the upkeep of her cows. 'I dare not see my mother, so on

her birthday I put a bag of sweets and clothes on her doorstep, press the

bell and leave,' she says. 'I don't want her to feel sad seeing me like

this.'

 

Before devoting her life to cows, Au Yeung was a school teacher. In

the 1990s, she left her job and volunteered to counsel emotionally disturbed

Vietnamese boat people living in detention centres in Hong Kong. When the

camps closed in 1997, she found a new raison d'etre. Hearing on the radio

that authorities had caught several dozen cows that had strayed into Tung

Chung, she switched her attention to saving cattle.

 

Visiting the department's North District kennel a few days later, she

recalls: 'I walked to the cows' pen and they came up to me. Some seemed to

have tears in their eyes, and others looked angry and helpless.' Overnight,

she was the owner of more than 20 cows, which she bought from the department

for up to $1,000 each and which she kept on a field she is renting for

$3,000 a year. Although friends contribute $2,000 to $3,000 a month towards

her farm, she says the donations cover only a fraction of the $30,000 she

spends a month on farm-related expenses, including workers' salaries,

veterinary fees and extra cow feed.

 

Faced with eviction because her landlord wants to develop the land, Au

Yeung, who is unemployed and single, realises her prospects for finding a

new home for her cows are bleak. Having sold her apartment in Ho Man Tin and

knowing her savings will not last forever, she is still hoping the

government will heed her pleas for land to accommodate her cows.

 

Hope, though brief, came in November last year in the form of a rogue

buffalo that wandered on to a busy thoroughfare near Tai Lam Tunnel causing

a traffic jam. When it emerged that the AFCD had removed the beast by crane

and planned to sell it to meat traders, dozens of people contacted the

department trying to save the buffalo. Legislator Lau Wong-fat volunteered

to adopt it, though his plans were foiled because, among other things, he

didn't meet government regulations on space. A week later, eight more

buffaloes in Pui O on Lantau were captured.

 

Soon, two groups had formed to help the cows. One, headed by Lantau

resident and legislator Albert Chan Wai-yip, pledged to try to save the

eight buffaloes; the other - comprising Chan, Lau, radio host Albert Cheng

King-hon and legislators Albert Ho Chun-yan and Abraham Shek Lai-him - said

they would help wild cattle in the New Territories. Kadoorie Farm, which

takes in only certain types of wildlife, could not help.

 

Wondering whether Au Yeung would step in, the campaigners contacted

her, but soon realised they had to look elsewhere because of the imminent

closure of her farm. Together, they came up with an idea for a cow park

where children could learn about nature. However, the Lands Department

requires a detailed proposal for the park, which has yet to be done.

 

Meanwhile, the nine buffaloes remain with the AFCD and Au Yeung

continues to fret about the future of her animals. What will she do if she

is forced off her farm? 'I will leave the world with my cows,' she says. 'As

long as I live, I will be with my cows.'

 

As the sun sets, Au Yeung gazes at her animals and says lovingly: 'Be

good boys and go back to your pen. Be happy; I will see you tomorrow.'

 

 

 

Monday January 6 2003

 

EXPERTS OPPOSED TO 'COW-PARK' IDEA

I admire the devotion shown by Au Yeung Sin-yu ('Bovine intervention',

South China Morning Post, January 3) and note the current suggestions about

having a cow 'theme park'.

 

Having studied the Lantau herds over the last 15 years, I, along with

vets and an Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department official, did

look into this 'cow park' idea some years ago, but concluded it just would

not work. Also, it is actually vital that the cows are left where they are.

 

They are a necessary part of the local ecosystem, since their grazing

keeps the wetlands from becoming overgrown and reverting to savannah

vegetation. Studies have shown that these feral cows and water buffalo

maintain the biodiversity, and ensure the continuance of an ecosystem for

amphibians and waterfowl.

 

There are currently around 70 buffalo and 60 cows on Lantau. These

numbers are about the minimum needed to maintain a healthy diverse gene

pool, and preserve the wetlands. Attempts by the authorities to cull have

usually resulted in the wrong members of the herd being taken. This upsets

the gene pool of the herd and can destroy its social cohesion, which is one

reason why the herds split up and stray.

 

Cows are harmless and do not pose a risk to anyone.

 

They can be kept from grazing in garden plots by a simple chain, or a

single strand of barbed wire. Road accidents involving cows are actually

very few and are caused, not by the cows, but by motorists driving too fast.

 

Experienced local drivers know to drive carefully, in case cows are on

the road, so cows are actually a positive factor in road safety, not a

hazard.

 

Some people say cows are messy and smell.

 

People who do not like farmyard smells should not live in the country.

Also, the cows supply vital fertiliser to farmers and gardeners. They should

be left where they are.

 

SALLY BUNKER

 

Lantau