A sad scene unfolds on Sai Sha Road, Sai Kung, this morning. A BUZZ team member returning from a run turns his car into the O Tau turn-off. There’s a little furry brown body lying half on and half off the main road. It’s an adult macaque monkey, flat on his back, head turned to one side, legs splayed. A pool of blood comes from his mouth and his exposed ear is filled with blood.
Our team member stops his car half into O Tau Road blocking it. He realises the monkey may be hit again by a car. He stands facing the traffic on Sai Sha Road protecting the monkey whose legs stick out onto the road. He waves a slowdown motion at the on-coming cars. The monkey opens his jaws further, sharp teeth visible and makes a barking sound. The animal is alive.
A man driving towards Sai Kung is flagged down. “We need a mobile phone,” our team member calls to him. He turns his black Mercedes Benz across the road and half into O Tau Road by the rubbish bins.
“Call 999 and ask for an RSPCA vet.” Our new friend does so, seated in his car. Our man is still standing partly on Sai Sha Road waving down the traffic. A bus comes. It wants to turn into the bus stop. If it does so its back wheels will crush the monkey. Our man bangs on the side of the bus. The driver decides to proceed. Big trucks come by taking up so much of the road. They are all good, giving room to the gesticulating figure standing over the little body.
About every 30 seconds the monkey opens his jaws, head turned to one side, and barks into the pool of blood.
“The police are coming,” our new friend says. “I have to go to take my daughter to school.” A small child too low down to see the sad sight of the dying animal is beside him. They leave.
The monkey keeps up his barks, crying for help. His body is still, one arm bent under him, flat on his back.
For ten minutes our man stands over him, protecting him from the traffic. He’s getting furious. He feels like yelling into the wind at the police. “Where are you! Why so slow!” The monkey is still alive. A vet might be able to save him.
He decides to wait no longer, to call 999 again. He tries to flag down several cars. They all refuse to stop. A lady comes along in a scarlet Mini-Cooper and she pulls over. She sees the scene and prompted, gets out her mobile phone and calls 999.
A police van pulls up behind her Mini-Cooper. Three officers get out and walk towards our man still standing over the monkey’s body. They’re a woman and two men, all with the single strip of lance corporal. The woman leads.
The monkey has stopped barking. He’s lying still. It occurs to our man the macaque may not be dead, but unconscious. He says this to the blue-uniformed woman. “Get a vet from the RSPCA or Ag & Fish.”
The monkey is still. Our man places his hand on its sandy coloured chest, feeling for signs of life. There’s none. The body is warm. If death has claimed him it has only just done so. The Mini-Cooper woman in a blue and white striped dress asks the police to get a cone to place on the road protecting the monkey. A male officer does so.
The woman police officer slips on protective gloves and feels for life in the animal’s body. It appears to be dead. Blood coming out of both its mouth and left ear leaves little hope.
Our man and the Mini-Cooper woman, thank each other and the police, and depart.
Later we hear from an O Tau neighbour that the three police lance-corporals have dragged the monkey’s body, leaving a trail of blood, to the side of the rubbish bins. Our neighbour said the unlucky little creature’s body was half in a black plastic bag with its furry legs sticking out. Our neighbour said, “It’s scaring the children.”
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