A macaque entered shops in Tsz Wan Shan, a residential area below Temple Hill in Kowloon, taking food items such as apples and bread in late October.
To control Hong Kong’s macaque population, adult and sub-adult macaque’s have been captured and selected for sterialisation outside of the breeding season by the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation since 2009.
Hong Kong’s macaque population is approximately 1,600 in the Kowloon Hills area, according to surveys conducted by the foundation.
The macaque birth rate has dropped to below 30 percent in the time since the programme’s implementation.
Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Survey Officer Louis Man Ho Chuen said humans have played a major role in the population numbers of macaques.
“The [macaque] population is uncontrollable since the peoples [sic] like to feed them and the birth rate rise to about 60 percent,” he said.
Mr Man said macaque numbers can be controlled if distance between humans and macaques is maintained.
By Tanya McGovern and Chen Si
This video was produced for the JOUR7040 Multimedia Journalism course at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Tanya McGovern 