Time for Hong Kong to control its roaming wild boars before we are overrun, like Rome

Despite the many popular videos of them on social media, wild boars have ceased to be cute and are increasingly a menace
It is time to reconsider the measures taken against wild boars before the problem grows out of hand, as it has in other cities

Bernard Chan

Published: 6:45am, 22 Oct 2021

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Pamplona in Spain has the running of the bulls. Hong Kong has the running of the boars. Videos have circulated on social media of a pack of more than 20 boars, big and small, running after a taxi at night.

Urban boar sightings have become almost a sport, with videos of them roaming around Hong Kong some of the most widely shared on social media. Hogging the spotlight include film of a family of boars casually swimming in the fountain outside a Bank of China branch in Central, the seemingly harmless wild piglets that caught the MTR in Quarry Bay and a large boar standing on its hind legs to get into a dustbin.

But when do wild boars stop being cute and start becoming a nuisance, or even a danger? Is it when they encroach on our MTR stations like they have in Kennedy Town, Wong Chuk Hang and Quarry Bay, to name a few? When they intrude onto Hong Kong International Airport’s tarmac? How about when they walk city streets alongside pedestrians?

What about when they attack citizens? A boar bit a hiker in July. A wild boar charged an elderly woman near The Peak earlier this month, shattering her elbow and breaking her hip. The victim said she underwent two surgeries lasting five hours and costing HK$500,000 (US$64,000).

Though attacks on humans are rare, they can be serious. Perhaps it is time to reconsider the measures taken against wild boars.

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Hong Kong wrestling with wild boar dilemma in the Year of the Pig

Wild boars are not domesticated pets, though some people feed them as if they are, further attracting them to urban areas. Boars can weigh up to 200kg and grow to almost 1 metre tall and 2 metres long, which can be fearsome if you are a child, elderly or frail. They are swift, nocturnal, good swimmers, omnivorous and have sharp tusks.

Generally indiscriminate eaters, boars consume both plants and animals and eat from barbecue sites and dustbins. Wild boars can also be reservoirs of some parasitic and infectious diseases known to affect humans.

There is no precise count of the number of boars in Hong Kong – a 2019 estimate suggested there were 1,800 to 3,300 in the countryside – though the population has ballooned if the frequency of sightings is any gauge. Boars have a rapid reproduction rate as they reach sexual maturity at 6 to 8 months of age and produce one or two litters of four to six piglets each year.

Hong Kong is not alone in dealing with this issue. Once just a rural concern, wild boars and feral pigs are increasingly invading urban areas. They have become a nuisance in places as widespread as Thailand, Japan and the United States. National Geographic reports that many researchers consider these animals the “most destructive invasive species on the planet”.

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More aggressive wild boars may be put down, says Hong Kong agriculture chief

Rome is dealing with a similar issue, with more than 5,000 wild boars living in or around the city. Packs infiltrating the city to feed on rubbish are a regular sight, so much so that they became an issue in this year’s mayoral election.

Australia has called its population of feral pigs a “serious environmental and agricultural pest”. One reason they are so harmful to humans and the planet is that their uprooting of soil releases 4.9 million tonnes of annual global carbon emissions, roughly the same as 1.1 million cars. Australia’s measures to control their population range from traps to poisoning and shooting.

Without wolves or other predators to naturally control the boar population, Hong Kong has an even bigger problem. What is our boar management plan then? The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has employed measures including capture, contraception and relocating boars to the countryside, as well as euthanasia.

In the past, two volunteer hunting teams were deployed to track down problematic boars, but this practice was suspended in 2017 and ended in 2019 because of vocal objections from animal rights groups. This could change, though, as more urban residents become concerned about their safety and well-being coming under threat from wild boars.

Do animal rights trump human rights? Before Hong Kong turns into Rome, we should consider being more proactive in controlling the wild boar population.

Bernard Chan is convenor of Hong Kong’s Executive Council