An injured wild boar that was hit by a car in the early hours of this morning died hours after it was rescued by authorities.
A spokesperson from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) confirmed to Coconuts HK by phone Wednesday evening that after taking in the wild boar, vets found it had sustained a pelvic injury following a collision with a vehicle near Kam Shan Country Park.
Authorities decided to send to the wild boar – an adult female about four feet long and weighing 43.25 kilograms – to the Animal Management Center, where it later died.
The spokesperson said the authorities did not put down the wild boar, and that it died a natural death.
The news marks a sad end to a story that began in the early hours of this morning when police drove to the scene at Tai Po Road, near Cheung Sha Wan, after receiving a call from a motorist at 3am this morning that a boar had been spotted on the side of the road struggling to stand up.
Apple Daily reports that when police arrived at the scene, they found a conscious wild boar (click for video) struggling to move the lower part of its body.
Human-boar interactions have been on the rise, with more sightings and complaints reported last year than in the three previous years combined. As boars increasingly find their way into urban areas, the issue has become a hot topic among officials, some of whom have suggested novel, and largely unworkable plans for containing the boar population.
Under Section 56 of the Road Traffic Ordinance, a driver must stop their vehicle when they have been involved in an accident that has harmed an animal and report the incident to police as soon as possible. Failure to do so can earn the driver a HK$10,000 (about US$1,280) fine and up to 12 months in jail.
However, the ordinance only applies to domesticated horses, cattle, asses, mules, sheep, pigs, and goats. It does not include wild boars or, for that matter, cats and dogs.
HKFP reported last April that the government is proposing changes to extend the legislation to cats and dogs, but there appear to be no plans to include wild boars under the ordinance.
