Hong Kong is being called in the name of Cultural Desert, is it true in representing Hong Kong Cultural environment? You may find the answer in the video.

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Reporters: Pinky Lee, Jessie Fan, Pony Wang and Lucy Kim

The rate of rat infestation in Telford Garden has been growing in the past two years. The management office found that none of the deratting methods seem to be effective, except “feral cats”.

The problem of rat infestation in Hong Kong has been highlighted all along. A few months ago, Chiang Lai-wan, chairperson of Subcommittee to Study Issues Relating to Animal Right, suggested training the feral cats to catch rats rather than using the rattrap.

However, Poon Yam Wai-chun, Kwun Tong District Council member, said there were over 60 feral cats wandering in the garden of Telford Garden have been caught by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) since 2012, leading to an increase number of rats in these two years, and she believed that this was the main reason why the number of rats arose rose.

Mr. Kwan, a resident of Telford Garden, said the rats would even appear during daytime and he could spot them at least twice a week. As he thought the rats were much dirtier than cats, he would prefer to see cats rather than rats although cats would also make troubles sometimes.

Telford Garden is a private housing estate where the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) is not responsible for, so the Management Office has hired a pesticide firm to deal with the rats. Poon said they have resorted to every conceivable means of deratting, including rat poison and bait clips, but they have also tried the new technological measures, for example, using super-audio frequency to drive them away. “Rats like challenges so much, they will only get into the rattrap with challenging design. But they are very smart, only the first few times they would be fooled,” Poon added.

Besides, she mentioned that rats love hiding in the garden, so they had to dig up the soil in order to wipe out the ratholes, but for large vegetation which might involve costs of nearly HK$100,000, and they were unable to do so due to the lack of money.

Although deratting tasks are being carried out twice a week, Andy Chan, the Assistant Manager of Housing Administration of Telford Garden, said they still got at least two to three complaints of rat infestation per week in average.

They have also strengthened the regulation of the nearby eateries, including forbidding them to dump trash outside their stores. However, the bigger trouble came. “When the rats lost the source of food and their holes, they then started to get into the dwelling for seeking food through climbing up along the water pipes,” Andy said. He has received complaints from the residents who live in lower-level, that the rats have eaten the soil of the plants.

After consulting with FEHD as well as trying different deratting measures, Poon found that none of them were better than using feral cats. “It is believed that rats are the natural enemy of cats, no other methods will do better”. Hence, she furtively asked the Management Office to keep a few feral cats in the garden of Telford Garden, hoping them to catch the rats. But she said she had not seen those cats for a week already, maybe they have been caught by AFCD.

According to AFCD, they have totally caught 1053 cats in last year, 449 of them did not have people to adopt and were euthanized, leading to the anger of those feral cat organizations. Feral cat volunteer Irene Lee agreed that catching rats was an instinct of cats, “they love catching the moving things very much, especially the insects and rats.” And she did not oppose to making use of cats' habit for controlling the number of rats.

But she did not think cats could be trained as Chiang’s mentioned. “Cats are different to dogs, they are not as obedient, especially the homeless cats, they are timid and do not trust humans.” On the contrary, she thought that if people could just let them become a part of the community, they would spontaneously help with catching the rats. 

The rat problem has lasted for a long time in Telford Garden. Let's wait and see which measure works well.

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Reporters: Yu Wai Shan, Lau Man Hin, Lam Wing Ki

Kwai Chung Plaza is a famous food paradise in Hong Kong. However, the amount of garbage generated by the mall has attracted the attention of the environmental protection group, suggesting that customers should bring their own tableware to reduce the trash.

About 70 restaurants can be found in Kwai Chung Plaza, including fast food restaurants and tea houses, producing around nine to ten-tons of garbage every day. According to the plaza management, the amount of waste was more than 40% compared to that in other plazas, and disposable tableware formed up the largest proportion.

A cleaner of Kwai Chung Plaza, Kit said, she has been working for the plaza for three years. She was responsible for cleaning from the first to fifth floors. She claimed that the trash bin will be full again within half an hour after cleaning. Kit complained: “Diners are wasteful, lots of food and disposable tableware are being thrown away." Being a cleaner of another Plaza, she said the garbage from Kwai Chung Plaza is comparatively much more.

In order to reduce the waste of Kwai Chung Plaza, environmental groups map out to launch a campaign of “Consuming Without the Package” (裸買運動), aiming to encourage at least 10% diners of the plaza to bring tableware themselves through offering discounts to the customers by individual shop owners.

Mr. Chan, a fast food shop owner of Kwai Chung Plaza, said he fully supported the concept of “Consuming Without the Package”. He believed that the campaign could reduce the amount of waste produced but hesitated about offering discounts. “We only run small businesses, and not many profits made.” Although he agreed that shop owners should have social responsibility, cost is too high to run a business. Instead of letting individual shops to offer discounts, he suggested why didn’t the Owner's Corporation coordinate all the shops to launch a rebate program? He proposed that: diners who bring their own tableware are given scorecards with which they can collect rewards or concessions from the Owner's Corporation of Kwai Chung Plaza.

The plan was fully supported by the Owner's Corporation of Kwai Chung Plaza. They also suggested that the fast food shops could even provide reusable tableware to the customers.

However, Ms. Lin, a fast food shop owner of Kwai Chung Plaza said: “Providing reusable tableware is not feasible here. Not only the high cost of self-cleaning appliances at shops, our shops in Kwai Chung Plaza is narrow and there are no places for dishwashing.”

The founder of Green Sense (環保觸覺), Roy Tam Hoi-pong, believed that the effective way to reduce the amount of waste is the reduction at source. “The amount of garbage in the mall was huge because the garbage was not classified and all the garbage was thrown in the same trash bin,” Roy said. Therefore, he suggested that different types of recycling bins could be placed in the mall.

Suggestions are suggestions. When you visit Kwai Chung Plaza next time, help yourself to be a wise diner.

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Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, former chief secretary, won the city’s top leadership election on Sunday and to become the first female chief executive in Hong Kong.
 
777 voters from a 1194-member election committee chose Lam over the other two aspirants: John Tsang Chun-wah and Woo Kwok-hing. Tsang got 365 votes while Woo received 21 votes.

Reporter: Ng Hing Ying Shirleen, Tam Lai Mui, Ling Chun Yin, Pau Tuk Man

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Former financial secretary John Tsang Chun-wah, secured 365 votes, losing to former chief secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who won 777 votes in the Chief Executive Election this year. John Tsang said, he accepted the outcome, and offered his heartfelt congratulation to Carrie. 
 
However, John also warned it would be difficult for her to govern if she could not gain the support of groups from across the political spectrum. 
 
“ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race” John Tsang said. 
He said, he feels sorry that he hasn’t been able to meet the expectation of his supporters. And He wishes people could lend the support to the new Administration, and continue to stand by Trust, Hope, Unity, Values that we all treasure. 
 
 John Tsang thanked all the EC members who have given his nominations and respected the “ decision of all the Election Committee members. And he also showed his gratitude to citizens for their supports and interaction.  
 
He added, “Words cannot tell how touched I have been by every handshake, every selfie and photo opportunity, every conversation, every quiet word and loud chant of encouragement, and every card, letter and Facebook message that you gave me.” 
 
Besides, he links the election to a football match. John Tsang said, “There are trick moves in all matches. The reality is, even if a team has played very well with considerable support from fans and kept scoring, it did not guarantee victory in the end.” 
 
He also believes that what they have left behind is not a legacy which will be forgotten, but genuine hope for a better future in Hong Kong.

Reporter: Lai Pui Yu Charley, Ling Chun Yin, Pau Yuk Man, Chan Kar Hei

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