Roaming Cows

We were going hiking near Sai Kung when we ran into these cows. They seemed totally nonchalant, and could not care less that a taxi was trying gingerly to pass.

Apparently some farmers in the New Territories released their cows when they stopped farming some years ago. Some built houses over the land, others simply rent the land out for storage of containers. There is now said to be more than 200,000 such men who are “entitled” to build a house for each of them over the land, because they are descendants of villagers. Many of them no longer live on the land, and some have moved overseas. Do we even have so much land in Hong Kong to build all these houses for them? Why is it only men who have the “right”? And what about those of us who were also born in Hong Kong and still live here, but who happen not to be descendants of villagers – which is most of us? I do not mean to stir up trouble. But it just seems somewhat unfair.

Coming back to these cows (some of them may not even be cows - not female, I mean). The farmers stopped farming a long time ago. But these cows look too young to have been around for so long. So they are likely to be descendants of those first generation “emancipated” cows of Hong Kong! Judging from their demeanor, they don’t look too wild to me. I would love to be able to talk to them – to ask them whether they enjoy the life in the wild. It seems they do.