Wild animal feeding ban to be expanded in Hong Kong from December 31.

Hong Kong authorities have said that a planned territory-wide ban on feeding wild animals is to come into effect on December 31 2022.

A spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said, "Feeding is the main cause of wild pig nuisance in recent years. To effectively control wild pig nuisance, apart from conducting capture and humane dispatch operations to reduce the number of wild pigs at nuisance sites, the Government also needs to curb wild pig feeding activities, thereby reducing the incentives that attract wild pigs to linger in urban areas and near residential areas.

Currently, the Feeding Ban Area under the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance (Cap 170) (the Ordinance) covers only areas including the Lion Rock Country Park, the Kam Shan Country Park and the Shing Mun Country Park, part of the Tai Mo Shan Country Park, and part of the Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve. But concerns about wild boars roaming around urban areas have prompted officials to expand the ban to the whole of Hong Kong.

The AFCD considered it necessary to expand the Feeding Ban Area to cover the entire territory of Hong Kong so as to step up the control of wild animal feeding activities, in particular feeding of wild pigs."

After the expansion of the Feeding Ban Area, anyone without a special permit feeding any wild animal, including wild pigs, at any place in Hong Kong could be prosecuted. The spokesman anticipates that nuisance caused by feeding of wild pigs will decrease substantially. The relevant proposal could reduce wild pigs’ reliance on feeding by humans and hence prevent them from losing the ability to forage in the wild.

the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said: -

"To effectively control wild pig nuisance, apart from conducting capture and humane dispatch operations to reduce the number of wild pigs at nuisance sites, the government also needs to curb wild pig feeding activities, thereby reducing the incentives that attract wild pigs to linger in urban areas and near residential areas."

The spokesman said that the AFCD would cope with the possible increase in enforcement work through internal resource redeployment and a risk-based enforcement strategy upon the extensive expansion of the Feeding Ban Area. The AFCD is also planning to amend the Ordinance to increase the penalty for illegal feeding of wild animals and introduce a fixed penalty to enhance the overall deterrent effect in order to further curb wild pig feeding activities. The AFCD will review the effectiveness of focusing resources on risk-based enforcement work and the results of the expansion of the Feeding Ban Area in due course

The Amendment Notice will be tabled at the Legislative Council on November 9 for negative vetting and come into effect on December 31, 2022.

Main Source: HK Govt