Old Stuff

"Nearly every winter one or more tigers visit the New Territories; often the visitor is a tigress with or without cubs. The visit rarely lasts more than two or three days...

In 19l5 a tiger was shot by Mr. Burlingham A.S.P. in the New Territories but only after it had killed Sergeant Groucher and, I believe, two Indian constables... it was reported to have visited both Hong Kong Island and Lan Tau island in its wanderings.

On the afternoon of 29th December, 1929 a Chinese village woman was driving a cow to the village of Fung Yuen at the eastern side of Tolo Harbour opposite Tai Po... a tiger sprang out from the thicket onto the back of the cow biting and mauling the animal severely...

On 4th January, 1931, it was reported that a tigress with two cubs had been seen near Tai Po Market...

On 2nd November, 1934, a tiger was reported to have visited the village of Lo Wai, Tsun Wan, and to have carried off a pig weighing approximately 60 catties... This animal was seen again twice. An old woman grass-cutter was returning home from Tsun Wan when the tiger walked up to her and started to circle round her. She was terrified but when it came too close she summoned up courage to give it a few blows with her pole and managed to scare it away. When interviewed later the woman was still in hysterics.

During our internment at Stanley a remarkable story filtered into the camp that there was a tiger at large on Hong Kong Island. Later it was reported to be on Stanley peninsula; our Formosan guards got very excited and it was risky walking about in the evening for an excited guard might fire at a prisoner mistaking him for a tiger!

In November, 1947, the Bishop of Hong Kong sent me a message one day that a large cat probably a tiger had walked across his garden at Sha Tin."

From: The Hong Kong Countryside by G.A.C. Herklots, 1951.

P.18

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