(CN - HK) Buffaloes - Cruel incompetence

[Guest guest]

South China Morning Post

http://focus.scmp.com/focusnews/ZZZT1U08K0F.html

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

by KEVIN SINCLAIR

 

What organisation in Hong Kong can successfully round up a few placid

cattle and truck them 30km? You would think it would be the

Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. You would be

totally wrong.

 

Witness the fate of the buffaloes of Shap Long near Chi Ma Wan on

Lantau. A few weeks ago, a gang despatched by the department

descended on these harmless beasts with the fury of the Mongol hordes

of Genghis Khan. Shooting powerful drugs into the creatures, they

stacked them up in trucks and hauled them to a tiny plot in Sheung

Shui. When it came time to unload the animals, 16 of the 17 were

dead.

 

The department, embarrassed at this blatant example of total uncaring

incompetence, later issued misleading and dishonest explanations.

Irate village residents who saw the bungled and brutal clearance

describe the department's replies as a fabrication. It also broke an

agreement with a Lantau animal rights group that only old, sick or

aggressive buffaloes would be culled.

 

This pathetic attempt to cover-up blundering cruelty was described by

the department as an attempt to " minimise the threat to public safety

and the nuisance and property damage caused " . It said the operation

followed complaints. It tried to blame the deaths on " extremely

emaciated " animals; anyone who had seen the herd knows they were

strong and well nourished.

 

 

There's another, hidden, aspect to this sad story. It gets down to

the twin reasons for most New Territories scandals, land and money.

There are plans lodged with the local District Lands Office to build

major housing blocks in the area, 30 houses in one development alone.

The Town Planning Board last year approved two house applications in

the green belt. Indigenous villagers have ideas about building a

hotel resort.

 

A major developer is now negotiating with indigenous villagers to buy

large areas of former farm land now zoned as green belt or for

agricultural use. It was there that the buffalo roamed.

 

 

Ben Sargent of the Shap Long Residents Committee is outraged by the

clearance of tranquil animals that were a Lantau icon. He still

awaits answers from the department to a list of questions. " Who made

these complaints and how were they substantiated and investigated? "

he asks. None of the 20 residents he has asked had any problems with

the buffalo.

 

Also upset by the clearance is the Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals. " We want to make sure that this will never happen

again, " said Steve Calpin, its executive director. That may be

difficult to achieve when the department is plainly at the beck and

call of people with vested interests who want to get rid of animals

to clear the way for development.