Wild Animals

Over 1 000 years ago Hong Kong was covered with a thick forest. In the forest lived elephants, tigers, monkeys and many other animals. When people first came to live in Hong Kong, they cut down the trees. They wanted the wood to make fires. The fires kept them warm. They also kept away the animals. Soon there was no forest left. While there was forest, the animals had somewhere to live, and food to eat. When the forest was cut down, the animals died.

Now there are only thirty-six different kinds of wild animals living in Hong Kong. Most of them are protected by law. This means that someone who kills them may be punished. But hunters still hunt them. Sometimes animals can be seen on sale in the market place. Farmers are also the enemy of wild animals. They put fences around their fields to keep out the wild animals. The animals have less and less land to live on.

As a result of this, animals are becoming fewer and fewer in Hong Kong. This is a very bad thing. Some animals live by eating plants. If they had no enemies they would soon eat all the green plants in Hong Kong! But they have enemies. Other animals eat the plant-eaters! If men kill the other animals, there will be more and more plant-eaters. There will be no green countryside left.