SQUIRREL! — is hopefully what at least one person shouted out on Sunday when a cute bushy-tailed critter scrambled aboard an MTR carriage and ran amok among commuters.
Footage of the little fury friend freaking out passengers while hitching a free ride was published by Apple Daily yesterday after being sent in by a man surnamed Yung, whose older sister was on the surprise squirrel train last Sunday.
According to the outlet, the at-least-it’s-not-a-rat rodent climbed aboard a Tsuen Wan line train from Cheung Sha Wan to Lai Chi Kok at around 2pm.
With many initially unable to tell whether it was a rat or a more friendly member of the rodent family, the carriage quickly erupted in chaos, with passengers going — we’re sorry to say it — nuts.
After receiving a report of the squirrel sighting, MTR staff met the train in Central but were unable to find it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHewIgCnb_U&frags=pl%2Cwn
The clip published by Apple Daily also includes another reader-submitted video of a squirrel hanging around trains.
Though it’s unclear when that footage — which shows a squirrel fall from the ceiling and land on all fours at the Central-bound platform at Lai King station before scurrying around the platform and boarding a train toward Hong Kong island — was taken.
Hong Kong has only one type of squirrel — the Pallas’ Squirrel, also known as the red-bellied squirrel.
According to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), they are widely distributed in the Tai Lam, Shing Mun and Tai Po Kau in the New Territories; and in Tai Tam and Pok Fu lam on Hong Kong Island.
The Pallas’ Squirrel is also a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Ordinance, which states that anyone who hunts, owns, or sells a protected wild animal is liable to a maximum fine of HK$100,000 (US$12,800) and a one year prison sentence.
