XN000022-1980-01-22 — Page 3

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1980

WILDLIFE THREATENED BY ILLEGAL HUNTING

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HONG KONG'S DIMINISHING WILDLIFE IS UNDER CONSTANT PRESSURE FROM ILLEGAL HUNTING, A CONSERVATION OFFICER OF THE AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES DEPARTMENT, MR K.C. IU SAID TODAY.

HE SAID THAT DURING NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER SOME 63 BIRD NETS WERE SEIZED BY GAME WARDENS IN THE MAI PO MARSHES AND OTHER TRAPS WERE DISCOVERED AT TA KWU LING, TAI LAM CHUNG AND MA ON SHAN.

+THUS, HE SAID, THERE IS A CONTINUING NEED FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT BY GAME WARDENS, PARK RANGERS AND OTHER AUTHORISED OFFICERS.+

MR IU MADE THE COMMENTS AT THE WEEKLY MEETING OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF KOWLOON EAST.

HE SAID THAT WHEN OUR PREDECESSORS ARRIVED HERE MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, THE NEW TERRITORIES WAS COVERED BY LUSH SUB- TROPICAL RAIN FOREST ABOUNDING WITH ELEPHANTS, TIGERS, WILD RED DOGS AND A VARIETY OF LESSER KNOWN ANIMALS. IN THE RIVERS AND ALONG THE COASTS WERE DUGONGS AND CROCODILES.

+THE EARLY PIONEERS DRAINED THE VALLEYS, FARMED PADDY, AND REARED PIGS AND CHICKENS. FOR FUEL, AND TO DISCOURAGE THE WILD BEASTS, THE HUGE FORESTS WERE GRADUALLY LOGGED AND BURNED.

+WITH THEIR NATURAL HABITATS DIMINISHING, THE WILDLIFE BEGAN TO DIE OUT. ELEPHANTS LACKED SUFFICIENT FOOD ́AND QUICKLY DISAPPEARED AS DID WOLVES AND MOST OF THE LEOPARDS AND TIGERS, HE SAID.

MR TU ADDED THAT THESE WERE MOST PROBABLY FOLLOWED BY MONKEYS, SQUIRRELS AND A HOST OF OTHER ANIMALS.

BIRDS WERE ABLE TO ADAPT TO THE IR NEW SURROUNDINGS AND DURING THE PAST 50 YEARS MORE THAN 350 SPECIES OF BIRDS HAVE BEEN RECORDED IN THE WILD. OF THESE, ABOUT 70 SPECIES WERE RECORDED BREEDING IN THE TERRITORY, WILDLIFE WAS LEGALLY PROTECTED IN HONG KONG IN 1880 WHEN AN ORDINANCE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF BIRDS WAS ENACTED. IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS THERE WERE SEVERAL REVISIONS, RESULTING IN THE PRESENT LEGISLATION, THE WILD ANIMALS PROTECTION ORDINANCE 1976.

THIS ORDINANCE PROTECTS ALL BIRDS, MONKEYS, PANGOLINS PORCUPINES, SQUIRRELS, CIVET CATS, LEOPARD CATS, BARKING DEER, DOLPHINS, WHALES, PORPOISES, TURTLES, TERRAPINS, TORTOISES AND BURMESE PYTHONS. THE MAI PO MARSHES' AND THE EGRET COLONY

AT YIM TSO HA (NEAR SHA TAU KOK) ARE ALSO PROTECTED AREAS UNDER THE ORDINANCE.

MR JU SAID THE COUNTRY PARKS ORDINANCE ENACTED IN 1976 ALSO CONTROLLED HUNTING, AND BY THE TIME THE COUNTRY PARKS DESIGNATION PROGRAMME WAS COMPLETED IN 1979, THE COMBINED EFFECT OF THESE TWO ORDINANCES WAS TO LEAVE FEW AREAS IN WHICH LICENSED HUNTING COULD BE CARRIED OUT.

/+AND EVEN