Is it time to call an end to Hong Kong’s boar war?

Shortly before the evening rush hour recently, chaos erupted at Hong Kong’s Wu Kai Sha MTR station when a wild boar stormed through the concourse.The animal, about 1.2 metres long and weighing around 40kg, knocked down an elderly man. The charging boar left a trail of blood on the station floor, injuring three other residents in a frenzied dash towards a nearby bus terminus and housing estates.“I saw it rampaging at the bus terminus while residents followed, snapping photos,” a woman working at a nearby bakery recalled.“The boar looked even more panicked than the people.”The animal ran wildly onto the road to evade capture as scores of Police officers equipped with shields and Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) staff tried to corner it. One department worker suffered a leg injury in the process.The subadult male boar was anaesthetised about three hours later and euthanised.The chaotic episode on February 27 caused shock and concern among residents, providing a jarring snapshot of a larger problem – Hong Kong’s more frequent collision with animals that once only roamed the hills but now move to the edges of people’s daily lives with unsettling ease.