A Kowloon Kangaroo?

Submitted by Richard Muirhead on Wed, 06/27/2012 - 00:45

Quite recently I was passed on the following story in the North China Daily Herald of May 7 1921:

WHAT WAS IT ?

Weird Animal Seen at Night – Correct Time for Such Things

Great consternation was caused in Kowloon City one night recently when many excited people claimed to have seen a strange and mysterious animal variously described as a bear, a kangaroo, and an orang outang. The animal is said to have seated itself on the hillside in full view of Hokyuen village , near Bailey`s Shipyard on the Kowloon City Road .

One witness , says the “ China Mail” thinks that the animal was a full grown man-eating tiger, but is not sure owing to the distance. He could see no stripes and the animal`s coat was of a dark brown. He estimates the mysterious animal to have been about seven feet long and 3 ½ feet high.

Armed police were at once sent out but on arrival at the village, behold the beast had vanished! Excited villagers stated that it had sat for a long while on its haunches like a man, with its fore legs hanging down by its side. It had,they said, a particularly long nose. All the nooise they had been able to make with gongs had failed to scare it away. It was, they averred, in full view for a long time before it eventually strolled away and disappeared into the gathering gloom.

No one was able to decide the exact nature of the animal but all were agreed that it was a huge thing of a very brutal appearance. If it was not a tiger, what was it the villagers asked themselves. Some replied that it was an extraordinarily huge bear, others that it was an orang outang, and yet others that it was a kangaroo. Hundreds saw it. What was it?

If you can tell us what it was-please do!

Richard Muirhead

This 1924 map shows "Hok Un" village in the top-left corner:

1924 Kowloon map - Quadrant 9

My modern map book doesn't show Hok Un, but you can see Hok Yuen Street and Bailey Street, which give an idea of the locations of the village and the shipyard. Kowloon City Road is now called Ma Tau Wai Road.

You should be able to find other mentions of the incident in the local papers around that date.

Regards, David

Hi there,

I believe the only reference to this location toda is Hok Yuen Street.  The spelling had changed, but it is just a phonic resemblence of 鶴園.  For "Un" we have Un Chau Street (元州街) in the Shamshuipo/Cheung Sha Wan area.  The 'Un' there was meant for another Chinese character with a similar pronounciation, 元.

Thanks & Best Regards,

T

The story originally appeared in the China Mail on 20 April 1921.

In a later article in the Hong Kong Telegraph on 26 April, it was claimed that a beast was killed in Chun Lung Village when it went to attack a herd of pigs. It transpires that the strange animal that was killed was a lone wolf.

The article ends with "there are, however, still those who think that this is not the Kowloon tiger as Chun Lung is quite a long distance from Hok Un."

No idea where Chun Lung Village is, though.

This is very interesting because officialy according to "zoological orthodoxy"the wolf has never been a part of Hong Kong`s fauna but very occasionaly they do turn up. My research has found that wolves were reported along the construction route of the Kowloon-Canton Railway between c. 1905-1910. But Herklots in the Hong Kong Countryside (1951) mentions the dhole in Hong Kong and Wikipedia mentions the gray wolf in China. Are there any old China hands out there who also hunted in Hong Kong pre-World War 2 who have a dhole`s/wolf`s head in their attic?

There were a lot of mention of a town named Chun Lung in Waitung District in the papers of the wartime MI9 British Army Aid Group.  It was situated about 15 miles south of Waichow (Huizhou) City; and about the same distance from the key towns of Tam Sui and Lung Kong of the time; thus an important communication hub.  It is probable that the big animals came to Hong Kong from this area, swimming across the Shenzhen River or Dapeng Bay.  I remember that was said of one tiger sighted in HK in the 50s.

Lawrence 

 

Yes, that's the location - Zhenlongzhen nowadays.  I got the wrong character for Lung.  During the War, it was along a popular overland escape route for PWs from HK to Wai Chow.  It was also along a route taken by BAAG Agents infiltrating HK from Wai Chow via Chun Lung, San Hui, Ping Shan & Shayuchung (Post X), then by junk to Chekeng, Saikung (Post Y). 

Lawrence

   

I am not at all convinced that the 'Chun Long' described in the China Mail article is Zhenlong Zhen in Guangdong province.  If we look at T's map, the straight line distance between Hok Yuen and this town is 44km, and a good 28km in a straight line from the Hong Kong-China border in Lowu.  I may of course be wrong, but I just don't think a newspaper will go all that way across the border to talk about a wolf. 

If 'Chun Lung' really is only down the a choice between Zhenlong Zhen and Chuen Lung near Tsuen Wan, commonsense will compel me to choose the latter.

breskvar

 

I agree with Breskvar, I doubt the English news would have been reported from over the border on such a small thing at that time.

I actually went to Chuen Lung Tsuen a few weeks ago - it's halfway up Tai Mo Shan and surrounded by old tea terraces. It has a couple of restaurants that have self service dim sum and steam all the food using mountain water (apparently) - good value for money and well worth a trip up there if you have the time.