Henry Wong recently posted a cutting on the Facebook Group, The Battle of Hong Kong 1941 To 1945. It described, complete with photograph, the appearance and killing of a Leopard (Panthera pardus) in the New Territories on 26 November 1943. Yes, you read that right: a Leopard, not a Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) which is still extant in Hong Kong and the size of a domestic tabby (not that its size has prevented it from being mistaken for a Tiger in the past). It is difficult to search newspapers or other material online because searching for ‘leopard’ and not getting ‘leopard cat’ is very difficult seeing that both are cats.
I hesitate to write that the source of the article was a ‘newspaper’ since it was the English-language propaganda sheet, The Hongkong News. This publication started out as a Japanese-owned English-language newspaper. It was revived in January 1942 at the start of the Japanese Occupation from the offices of the South China Morning Post. Amongst attempts to persuade its readers that all was well, by reporting on the resurrected horse racing at Happy Valley, for example, while the local inhabitants were starved, beaten, tortured, killed or forced into mainland China, there were some news items, like this one on the Leopard.
Leopard Killed At Taimoshan
Exciting Hunt By Gendarmerie Police
Measuring five feet six inches from nose-tip to his tail-end and weighing about 70 catties, a male leopard was killed by a posse of Gendarmerie Police at the foot of Taimoshan (about seven kilometres from Taipo, in the New Territories) on Friday.
The first report regarding the presence of the animal was made at 9.30 a.m. on Friday. The report stated that the spoor of a tiger had been found at the foot of Taimoshan. The message was
eventually sent to the Hongkong Gendarmerie Headquarters, which immediately dispatched a posse of Gendarmerie police to the scene in order to capture the beast.
While searching for the tiger, one of the Chinese Gendarmerie police, who displaying fine presence of mind, drew his revolver and shot the leopard under the chin, although he was injured by the leopard's claws on the right shoulder and leg.
The leopard, although hit, managed to get away, and it was not until 5.30 p.m., which was about seven hours later, that the leopard was sighted again, this time by an Indian Gendarmerie Policeman, Amaru Khan. This time the police marksman made no mistake and riddled the leopard to death with a number of shots.
Seven km from Tai Po would make the position south of the mountain Tai Mo Shan and at its foot would suggest somewhere around the position I have marked on a modern satellite view of Hong Kong from Google Earth.
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| Locations of the 1931 and 1944 (approximate area) Leopard sightings on a 2020s Google Earth satellite view |
In 1942 the Japanese reconstituted a police force from local and Indian former policemen as well as new local recruits. This ‘gendarmerie’ operated under the close control of Japanese and was directly involved in terrorising the population. Although the majority avoided official retribution after the Japanese surrender in 1945, it is known that a number of gendarmerie members were quietlyhunted down by local groups and executed Chinese style by a bullet in the back of the neck. I wonder if the fate of the two men of the ‘Chinese Gendarmerie’ and the ‘Indian Gendarmerie’ involved in shooting the leopard is known.
In his book, The Hong Kong Countryside, first published in 1951, Geoffrey Herklots did not mention this incident which occurred while he was interned at Stanley on Hong Kong Island. He may not have been aware of its existence. He describes another leopard being found in 1931:
…On 20th December, 1931, one was shot near the village of Chung Pui to the north of the Pat Sin range. The villagers had been in the habit of setting traps to catch the barking deer and on the morning of that date a woman, hearing a noise and disturbance amongst some bushes, thought a deer had been caught in a trap and called out the good news to her friends below. Up rushed a party of villagers the first man with a sack which he intended to place over the head of the deer. He went ahead into the bushes to find the animal but the animal found him! A leopard had been caught in the trap by its left fore paw, it had broken the rope which had attached the trap to a tree but was somewhat handicapped in its movements by the trap on its foot. It sprang upon the man mauling his face and head which were badly scratched.
A council of war was held and one of the party was then sent to the village where lived three men who owned rifles. The men arrived and shot the leopard. An argument now followed as to the ownership of the body; the armed men insisted that as they had shot the animal the body was theirs. This argument prevailed. The beast was skinned and the flesh, bones, skull, teeth, whiskers and claws were sold to bidders amongst the villagers for the large sum of $150 (then about £15.0.0.). The skin remained the property of the villagers but was transferred temporarily to Sha tau kok police station where, through the courtesy of Sergeant Coleman, I was able to examine and photograph it. Three bullet holes were noticed, two in the head, one in the back. Tip of snout to base of tail 4 feet 2½ inches, tail 2 feet 4 inches; total length 6 feet 6% inches; width just behind fore limbs 1 foot 11 inches. The skin was in good condition.
The 1931 animal (sex unknown) was therefore a little longer than the 1944 beast. The weight of the latter converts to 42 kg which would suggest a young male. The geographical form of the Leopard occurring in years past from South China to the Malay Peninsula is Panthera pardus delacouri. It is now thought to be close to extinction in China. Were the ones that did reach Hong Kong wandering young animals seeking to establish their own territory but which met a similar fate to those found in 1931 and 1944?
Herklots prefaced his remarks with:
The visit of a leopard to the Colony [Hong Kong] is a much rarer event than that of a tiger.
I do not know the date of the last authentic record—or any claim of a sighting—for a Leopard in Hong Kong. Could 26 November 1943 have been the final occasion? Their may have been others that went unspotted but the hills were so well worked by grass cutters and trappers that it seems unlikely. It is also possible that Leopards were once—when the human population was really sparse—and along with Tigers and Dhole just part of the scenery in Hong Kong and the surrounding parts of mainland China.
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