The Weird Animal Dynamics of Kowloon Reservoir

Probably the first thing that most Hong Kongers don’t know about Kowloon Reservoir is that it’s actually located in the New Territories. Pretty ironic naming scheme, I know. But there is some logic to it. See, in 1899 the British colonial government acquired The New Territories from China, greatly expanding Hong Kong’s borders.

The reservoir's construction officially began in 1901 and was completed by 1910. In subsequent years, three more reservoirs were added around Kowloon Reservoir. These were the Lei Pui Reservoir, which was built in 1925, the Kowloon Reception Reservoir, which was completed in 1926 and the Kowloon Byewash Reservoir, which was constructed in 1931. The four reservoirs have a total storage capacity of 2.9 million cubic meters.

However, back in 1910, Kowloon Reservoir provided much-needed drinking water to the people of Kowloon so that they wouldn’t have to rely on antiquated wells for their water supply any longer.

There was also a massive surge in the city's population at the time, so building a new water source became a task of paramount importance.

There are five main reasons for this steep influx of people:

1. Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864): This massive civil war in southern China caused large numbers of Chinese to flee to Hong Kong to escape the violence and instability.
2. Natural Disasters: Floods, typhoons, and famines in mainland China drove people to seek refuge in the more stable environment of Hong Kong.
3. Political Refugees: The Qing Dynasty (China’s last ever dynasty) was in its death throes by the late 1800s. This led to a huge number of political refugees claiming asylum in Hong Kong.
4. Rapid Industrialization: As one of the pioneering regions of East Asia to go through industrialization, there was a sudden need for workers, many of whom were from China.
5. Colonial Infrastructure Projects: In the late 1800s, the British colonial government were busy implementing a wide array of key infrastructure projects in Hong Kong, making it an attractive place for migrants to move to.

According to the book, The Population of Hong Kong by Fan Shuh Ching, Hong Kong’s “population further increased from 160,402 in 1881 to 221,441 in 1891 and further to 283,905 in 1901.” That’s a 77.5% increase in just two decades!

Given this drastic shift in the population, and with many of the city’s residents living in Kowloon, the government began scouting suitable spots in 1899 to build a new reservoir. Eventually, they settled on the valleys west of Beacon Hill and south of Needle Hill for reservoir construction.

Now that Kowloon Reservoir’s new ecosystem has been established for over 100 years, there is an abundance of wildlife species that call this unique habitat home. Some of the most notable species I’ve seen include macaques, wild boars, black kites, snakes, lizards, wild dogs, several really cool insects and much more!

As of late, I’ve been seeing strange behavior whereby several of the larger animal species, who probably shouldn’t want anything to do with one another, are forming uneasy alliances to gorge themselves on food together.

Where does this food come from, you might ask. Well, on several occasions, I’ve seen people drive into the reservoir with vans or cars to dump massive loads of food onto the concrete roads so that the animals can eat together.

While at first glance, it might seem like a kind gesture to feed the animals, but this behavior is extremely unnatural and ends up doing more harm than good down the line.

Here are some reasons why:

Increased Aggression Towards Humans

When animals are fed regularly by humans, they lose their natural fear of man. This does not create docile Bambi-esque animals. Instead, it can lead to more aggressive encounters between animals and humans. This is especially true of males in the breeding season. Sadly, if an animal is aggressive towards a human, it is often euthanized if it can be tracked down.

Artificial Inflation of the Animal Population

Nature has its own way of keeping animal populations in balance. Resources, like food, determine just how large a species’ population can and should grow. However, when that natural mechanism is completely removed through the artificial feeding of animals, their populations skyrocket out of control. If that artificial food source is one day removed, animal populations can face mass die-offs or interspecies aggression as they are forced to compete with one another for the natural quantity of resources.

Health Issues for the Animals

Whatever those people were chucking out from their cars and vans, it wasn’t what the animals would find in the wild. While the macaques and boars seemed happy enough to eat what was provided to them, there is a definite nutritional imbalance in the food they are fed and could end up causing all kinds of illnesses over time. Some people who may believe they are helping native wildlife by feeding them could even unwittingly provide food that is toxic or dangerous for the animals to consume. What we humans eat regularly is completely unnatural to animals.

Spread of Diseases

When a species’ population expands rapidly with an abundance of food, the weak or sick animals do not naturally die off. While this may sound like a net positive, it can actually end up being extremely dangerous for the population as a whole. Diseased individuals survive for much longer and pass on their illnesses to the rest of the population, which could lead to huge numbers of individuals suffering from terrible sicknesses.

Destruction of the Ecological Balance

Every ecosystem has its natural balance and the one at Kowloon Reservoir has existed for over 100 years at this point. If we continue to feed the animals there, there could be instances of overgrazing and loss of other species as the macaques and boars grow in numbers and forage extensively on the natural flora in the area. Over time, this can irrevocably alter the landscape and ruin it.

More Human-Animal Encounters Outside of Natural Range

This point hearkens back to a couple of the previous points. When animal populations increase rapidly and there is competition for food or ecological imbalance, those animals will move beyond the range of their natural habitat. This is why we often see complaints from Hong Kong residents of monkeys chilling in their pools or boars running rampant in the MTR.

The large cages pictured above are left open for several days. People that the monkeys are familiar with fill the cages with food so that the monkeys enter them willingly.

"That way when we trap them in there they don't panic. They just keep on eating as they've been in there many times before," said Paolo Martelli, chief veterinarian with the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, which is contracted to carry out the sterilisations.

"What we do is remove the tubes. Between the uterus and the ovaries there are small tubes that we cut out in very precise keyhole surgery. We go in, remove two pieces of tube and come out. It takes a few minutes," Martelli said.

The ovaries are left partially intact since they play an important hormonal role for the monkeys and their natural behavior would be impacted without this functionality.

I wrote this article because Kowloon Reservoir is one of my favorite places in Hong Kong. Its meandering trails, gorgeous greenery and abundance of wildlife make it one of the easiest areas to appreciate just how close our concrete jungle is to real nature. With this in mind, if you visit the reservoir, or have friends and family who plan to go, please refrain from feeding or interacting with the wildlife and take your rubbish home. You'll be doing your part to protect this incredible space for future generations of Hong Kongers to enjoy!

There are 2 buses that go to the Kowloon Reservoir hike start point. Grab either of them and get off at the Shek Lei Pui Reservoir stop.

• Bus 81: (From Jordan, West Kowloon, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok, Prince Edward, Sham Shui Po) or (Wo Che, Shatin, Tai Wai)
• Bus 72: (From Cheung Sha Wan, Sham Shui Po) or (Tai Wo, Tai Po, Chinese University, Shatin)

By Taxi

Show this address to the taxi driver to get to the hike start point: 九龍水塘, 金山路

Google Maps Location

This is the exact entrance point into Kowloon Reservoir where Tai Po Road and Golden Hill Road intersect.