We hate to say we told you so, but … we kind of told you so.
That “tiger” spotted by a couple hiking on Hong Kong’s Ma On Shan mountain yesterday — the one that sparked a search across the country park — was actually a leopard cat.
The frightened couple, surnamed Lee, had to be escorted from the hiking trail yesterday morning by firefighters after spotting a large yellow cat about three feet in length that they identified to police as a tiger. Several media outlets reported yesterday that the animal was about two feet tall.
The couple, who were taken to Prince of Wales Hospital, admitted the error after officers showed them photographs of different types of cats yesterday afternoon and they realized what they had spotted was a leopard cat, on.cc reports.
That makes sense given that, according to Apple Daily, the last significant tiger sighting was in 1915, when villagers in Sheung Shui spotted a South China tiger. Nicknamed the “Sheung Shui Tiger” it attacked and killed two police officers that tried to subdue it.
The tiger — which was about 2.6 meters long and weighed about 131 kilograms — was shot dead by officers and is currently on display at the police museum on Coombe Road, the Peak.
The AFCD also pointed out that there have been zero tiger sightings in Hong Kong since they set up infrared surveillance cameras in the city’s country parks in 2002, which makes sense, as, according to the World Wildlife Fund, the South China tiger is believed “functionally extinct,” and as has not been sighted in the wild for more than 25 years.
Police and personnel from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) who had been searching the area for the mystery tiger have thus far not been able to find a leopard cat either.
According to the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, which has two rescued leopard cats, they are widely distributed in Hong Kong’s country parks, but sightings are rare because they are nocturnal.
Tamari Yu, a conservation officer from Kadoorie Farm, told Coconuts HK that leopard cats are harmless, alert, elusive, and hard to spot, adding that they when they see a human they will usually flee.
She added that if you do happen to see a leopard cat during your hike, you should consider yourself lucky.
“This is the only carnivorous feline that we have in Hong Kong now. We lost our tiger a hundred years ago and now this is the only predator that is native to Hong Kong that we have. So we are lucky to study it in the wild actually, you should feel that you are very lucky, because it’s not that easy to see them.”
But let’s not be too hard on the Lees. They’re not the first people to have reported a tiger sighting in Ma On Shan. A few local news outlets including Apple Daily and on.cc reminded people that on Feb. 25, one hiker allegedly caught a glimpse of a tiger sitting in the wilderness. Well, a Tigger sighting. Close enough.
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