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An island in Hong Kong is out of grass for its feral cows, their pasture destroyed by a stampede of campers escaping Covid-19 restrictions
- Volunteers have resorted to cutting fresh grass and shipping it to the island, also called Tap Mun, to stop the herd from starving to death
- A surge in visitors has trampled herd’s food source, creating an ecological disaster and leaving cows to eat rubbish they leave behind
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Once grassy pastures that nurtured feral cows on an island in Hong Kong have been reduced to barren dirt by the feet of hordes of hikers and campers escaping coronavirus boredom, leaving the herd hungry.
Volunteers have resorted to cutting fresh grass and shipping it to Tap Mun, or Grass Island, to stop the herd from starving in the Year of the Ox.
The animals have made their home for generations alongside a few dozen fishing families on the island in northeast Hong Kong off Sai Kung. Until the coronavirus struck last year, a largely manageable number of hikers and campers made their way to the island.
But with overseas travel no longer possible for most Hongkongers, a huge influx of visitors has arrived as residents look for ways to escape the confines of Social distancing in one of the world’s most densely populated cities.
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Volunteers send food to keep wild cows alive on Hong Kong’s desolate Tap Mun
Volunteers send food to keep wild cows alive on Hong Kong’s desolate Tap Mun
“Suddenly there are massive numbers of people coming and trampling on the grass,” said Ho Loy, chairwoman of Lantau Buffalo Association, an activist group that campaigns to protect Hong Kong’s wild buffaloes and cows.
All across the island, popular hiking trails that slice through thick carpets of grass have become increasingly bare, while the main campsite, where the island’s cows would often come to feed among the tents, has become little more than a brown patch of sandy earth.
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