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Hongkongers have been urged to remain vigilant to possible poaching activities while hiking in country parks or remote areas, with a conservation and education centre warning that poachers posed a threat to the city’s rich biodiversity.
“Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG) has learned that our native biodiversity is once again under threat from poaching activities, probably targeting wild turtles and other animals in Hong Kong,” the farm said in a statement issued on Tuesday morning.
“Recently poachers have been spotted in several parts of the New Territories hunting for wildlife along our mountain streams,” KFBG added. “One illegal activity was noted on Tai Mo Shan which is close to the KFBG Protected Areas and home of our wildlife.”
KFBG referred to the recent sentencing of a 37-year-old who was jailed last month for one year and three months. He was convicted on charges of illegal possession of endangered species, illegal sale of protected wild animal taken in Hong Kong and illegal possession of live protected wild animals taken in Hong Kong. The man was arrested after the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) and the police mounted a joint operation against him in May 2022, seizing 31 endangered turtles.
The animals included radiated tortoises, big-headed turtles, Chinese three-striped box turtles and Beale’s eyed turtles, the latter three of which are found in the wild in Hong Kong. According to an AFCD statement issued after the man’s sentencing on September 20: “Upon scientific testing, all seized big-headed turtles and Beale’s eyed turtles, as well as some of the Chinese three-striped box turtles were proven to be taken from the wild locally.”
All of the turtle species seized were listed as endangered or critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List and protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, as well as by Hong Kong law.
KFBG called on the public to be “extra vigilant when hiking and report any suspicious or illegal activities seen in our country parks and other wilderness areas.”
It added: “It is extremely disheartening that Hong Kong is considered by some as a place where the rich biodiversity, which has been protected for many years by legislation and community actions, can be exploited for profit.”
Last July, a man was arrested after police and AFCD officers seized 29 endangered turtles, seven suspected turtle eggs and “tools suspected for hunting purposes” in Tai Po. Species with wild populations in Hong Kong were among those found.
HKFP has reached out to the AFCD for comment.
The maximum penalty for breaching the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance faces a maximum fine of HK$10 million and up to 10 years in prison. Those convicted under the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance, which prohibits hunting, wilfully disturbing, buying, selling, exporting, and possessing wild animals, are liable to a maximum fine of HK$100,000 and up to a year in jail.
Despite its urban reputation and compact size, Hong Kong’s myriad marine and terrestrial habitats boast a high level of diversity. The territory is home to 3,300 species of vascular plants, 55 species of terrestrial mammals, over 580 species of birds, 196 species of freshwater fish, 90 species of reptiles, 25 species of amphibians, 245 species of butterflies and 134 species of dragonflies.
Included in that list are critically endangered Chinese pangolins and endangered black-faced spoonbills, which overwinter in Hong Kong’s wetlands, a habitat that faces destruction as a result of a huge government-backed development scheme.
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