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Friday, November 10, 1972
CHINESE PORCUPINE TO BE PROTECTED
The Government plans to include Chinese porcupines on the list of
protected wild life in an endeavour to preserve the species.
Amending legislation will be introduced in the Legislative Council
soon which will have the effect of prohibiting the hunting and trapping of the porcupine as well as a number of marine mammals including dolphins, whales
and dugongs.
A spokesman for the Agriculture and Fisheries Department said today the Chinese porcupine, indigenous to Hong Kong, represents a unique group of
rodents and is of special zoological interest.
He said that for one reason or another, most of the south-east Asian
countries where the species is also found are relatively inaccessible.
"Hong Kong is therefore one of the few places where the species can
be studied in its natural habitat.
IT
The spokesman said the Chinese porcupine is the only remaining animal
in Hong Kong which can still be legally trapped. But the traps are of such a size that they could just as easily, be used for catching a variety of other
species, such as civet cats and monkeys a practice which has long been
illegal.
At the same time, the use by New Territories villages of dangerous
and cruel gin traps, some of which are capable of breaking a man's leg, present a growing hazard to the increasing numbers of people using the countryside for
recreation.
/In an