Cows on the road!

Lockhart Road, Wanchai, 6pm


Tai Mong Tsai Road, Sai Kung, 6pm

In the previous post, I mentioned the startling contrasts between urban and rural Hong Kong, and the photos of Wanchai and Sai Kung says it all. The noise, glitz, bars, and neon signs on the one hand, and cows on the road on the other.


Imagine you are driving along Tai Mong Tsai Road on the way home, and there's a herd of cattle crossing the road. You begin to count as the traffic is held up on both lanes. A few years ago, you may have counted up to 40 bulls cows, and calves. To me, brought up on Sri Lankan coconut plantations that also had lots of cattle on them, such scenes in Sai Kung bring back happy memories from the past. But, on a dark and rainy night, a black bull sauntering down the road could also pose a danger to drivers.


Near Sai Kung town last Sunday. Two spring calves can be seen in the background.

According to Explore Sai Kung magazine, When Austin Coates wrote Myself a Mandarin: Memoirs of a Special Magistrate (1968), cattle were still an integral part of life for villagers in the rural New Territories. Coates' first case in 1949 involved a divorce case which centred on not the children but custody of the family cow.

Most of the farmers in the New Territories left for the UK in the 1960s and 70s, abandoning their cows, fields, and homes. Only a few of their children have returned to their ancestral villages. The cows are now feral, wondering freely in the Sai Kung area. Although a bull may appear threatening, they are docile animals and pose no harm to pedestrians and hikers.

But some residents, especially villagers with small vegetable plots, find the cattle a nuisance, both on the roads and around their gardens. Some drivers resent their habit of lying on the road which slows down traffic. Because of complaints, Explore Sai Kung says that the Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department darts the animals with tranquilizer and bring them to the Department's Animal Management Centre. Tragically, these animals are "auctioned off to the one slaughterhouse and meat processing facility in HK". I don't see large herds of cattle any more and I am afraid many of them would have been sold for slaughter.


Fawzia & Taro on the road with cattle. tai Mog Tsai Road, near my house.

I only see smaller herds now, with one bull, a few cows and some calves. Over the years, I have seen only two bulls. The older bull has been driven away from the herd and now wonders alone. Some years ago, when I was bringing my sister home from the airport, we found the two bulls locking horns in the middle of the road. Having just driven through the highrises of Shatin and Ma On Shan, my sister watched this bucolic scene in amazement.



On Tai Mong Tsai Road.

Two days ago, we were taking Taro for his morning walk when we met the small herd shown in the photos. They were wandering all over the road, and considerate drivers would slow and swerve to avoid the animals. Although the bull, with pointed horns, looked fearsome, he minded his own business and avoided any contact with us.


The bull with his "harem"

I notice that a number f calves have been born this year, and that bodes well for the herds. They are an integral part of Sai Kung and I hope they'll be around for many years to come.