Feeding of monkeys and other wild animals at the Lion Rock, Kam Shan and Shing Mun Country Parks, Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve and part of Tai Mo Shan Country Park have been prohibited under the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance since 1999.

The feeding of monkeys (and other wild animals) are banned at the above places.

Monkeys remain wild at heart

Regardless of the ban, the excessive feeding continues. Monkey-feeding in the weekends are considered as cheap entertainment to many.

And it has its consequences. The monkeys have become a bit of a nuisance.

Old habits die hard, and the monkeys have come to reply on human handouts. They have come to expect that all humans will feed them. And they can become aggressive when people refuse to do so. During the years from 1996 to 1998, there were over 430 complaints of monkey nuisances, including incidents of  people being injured by wild monkeys. In 2008, there were over 400 complaints alone in the Shatin district.

Peggy (right) with a friend, after a morning walk in Kam Shan Country Park

Peggy, a hiker at Kam Shan Country Park, was attacked by a monkey when she was a child.

"It's been ages since I was last here. Back then you could still feed the monkeys, and the monkeys run after you for food," she said.

"The situation is much better now. In the past they'll come right up to you, and if they see plastic bags they'll come over and scratch you." 

Mr. Tong - hobby photographer

Mr. Tong, an amateur photographer, has seen people feeding monkeys.

"Just now, there was a whole family, twenty or so. Someone threw a packet of bread out there and they fought over it. The big monkeys got their share, and the smaller ones had to watch," he said.

"The same guy then threw in two cans if beers. And wow! The monkeys can even open the beer cans. They bit right through the can and started drinking. The small monkeys got their turn later. But they were all really fierce."

Exciting as the experience was, he doesn't think monkey-feeding is right.

Some have demanded the monkeys be eliminated from the area. Others hope that such difficulties in inter-species interaction can be resolved without harm to the animals. The AFCD has implemented a monkey birth control program with the aim of lowering the monkey population growth rate in the next fiove years to 3 percent a year.

"The numbers doesn't matter. I think we do need to preserve this place for the monkeys to live in. And we shouldn't ruin their natural way of living like the way we did before," siad Peggy. "But yeah, this area needs to be preserved for them."