Tigers in Hong Kong?

Tigers in Hong Kong?

yes, Hong Kong did have tigers, until relatively recently. The last authenticated sighting was 1965! so - depending on your age - not so long ago (I would have been 5, and could have bumped into one, in the hills of the New Territories)....

There were an estimated 4,000 of these lovely, but dangerous, animals about 100 years ago...but in 1952 Mao Zedong, the new premier of China declared his idealogical war on nature: the catchy slogan “Kill the tiger, banish evil”. This can be understood in the drive to feed more people and that in the previous 2 years c.180 people had been killed by tigers in South China. so now with machine guns and hand grenades, they did such a good job that now the south china tiger is extinct in the wild.

This image is from one shot in 1925 in the new territories, after killing two policemen who went to help farmers. The Mounted head of the “Sheung Shui Tiger” can still be seen in the Hong Kong Police Museum (Wan Chai Gap / The Peak). look for the bullet mark on the skull.

Tiger or Leopard (cat)

A news report from the BBC and the SCMP:

Hong Kong's authorities have searched a country park after receiving a call from a couple who claimed to have spotted a tiger in the area.

However police found no trace of the animal, which was described as yellow and 90cm (3ft) long. It is now thought the couple may have seen a leopard cat.

Experts say tigers have not been seen in Hong Kong for more than 50 years.

Leopard cats, which can grow up to about 70cm in length, are found in parts of Asia including China.

The couple called the police on Tuesday morning after they saw the animal on Ma On Shan Country Park. They were escorted downhill by an officer.

"They claimed the animal was yellow in colour and measured about 3 feet by 2 feet, external. They were worried, so they called police," a police spokesman told the South China Morning Post.

The couple were sent to hospital suffering from shock, external, Radio Television Hong Kong reported.

Look out for next weeks blog on the Leopard Cat....