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Between July and September 2016, the SPCA received over 300 freshwater red-eared sliders that had been dumped in the sea by practitioners of “mercy release”.
Download the Religious Release Poster“Mercy release” is understood as a religious ritual. Many Buddhists and Taoists believe that releasing captured animals can create good karma and bring good fortune.
Every year, many people all over the world release birds and other animals in an act of 'making merit'. The release of animals during special events such as the Buddha’s birthday or Vesak Day is supposed to represent the symbolic liberation of the captured, imprisoned and tortured.
However, an act thought to help preserve animals’ lives in fact does physical harm to the animals and threatens ecological balance.
“Mercy release” has grown in scale and been commercialised with animals now being hunted, bred then bought and discarded regularly and frequently in Hong Kong.
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Between July and September 2016, the SPCA received over 300 freshwater red-eared sliders that had been dumped in the sea by practitioners of “mercy release”.
The largest case involved 244 red-eared sliders which had been released at Anglers’ Beach in Tsuen Wan on August 28. At noon, alarmed Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) lifeguards and citizens called our hotline to report hundreds of desperate red-eared sliders had appeared in the water and on the beach. Earlier in the morning, swimmers reported seeing someone in a Taoist costume performing rituals before releasing huge numbers of turtles into the sea. Once at the scene, SPCA inspectors and lifeguards raced against time and the tide to rescue these struggling animals from being swept between rocks and out into the ocean
Back at our hospital, many turtles were weak and dehydrated, in addition to suffering from skin sores, broken shells and swollen and infected eyes from being densely stacked and packed prior to their “release”. While hundreds were rescued from the salt water (they are a freshwater animal), many more were likely lost out at sea to suffer badly before finally dying a slow death.
Our animal care teams worked long hours for weeks to ensure these animals were adequately sheltered, treated and fed every day.
Extensive media coverage helped immensely to raise awareness about the cruelty of “mercy release”. Many members of the public came forward to adopt these turtles. However, this is a happy ending for a tiny number of animals in the so-called “mercy release” industry. In previous cases, lifeguards also reported seeing animals being released directly into the sea from “mercy release” boats. These activities continue to carry on daily from hot spots like Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun and North Point piers.
Between July and September 2016, the SPCA received over 300 freshwater red-eared sliders that had been dumped in the sea by practitioners of “mercy release”.
The largest case involved 244 red-eared sliders which had been released at Anglers’ Beach in Tsuen Wan on August 28. At noon, alarmed Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) lifeguards and citizens called our hotline to report hundreds of desperate red-eared sliders had appeared in the water and on the beach. Earlier in the morning, swimmers reported seeing someone in a Taoist costume performing rituals before releasing huge numbers of turtles into the sea. Once at the scene, SPCA inspectors and lifeguards raced against time and the tide to rescue these struggling animals from being swept between rocks and out into the ocean
Back at our hospital, many turtles were weak and dehydrated, in addition to suffering from skin sores, broken shells and swollen and infected eyes from being densely stacked and packed prior to their “release”. While hundreds were rescued from the salt water (they are a freshwater animal), many more were likely lost out at sea to suffer badly before finally dying a slow death.
Our animal care teams worked long hours for weeks to ensure these animals were adequately sheltered, treated and fed every day.
Extensive media coverage helped immensely to raise awareness about the cruelty of “mercy release”. Many members of the public came forward to adopt these turtles. However, this is a happy ending for a tiny number of animals in the so-called “mercy release” industry. In previous cases, lifeguards also reported seeing animals being released directly into the sea from “mercy release” boats. These activities continue to carry on daily from hot spots like Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun and North Point piers.
Two surveys have been conducted by Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG) and Hong Kong University (HKU) about animal release by religious organisations in Hong Kong.
After the outbreak of avian flu in Hong Kong, the KFBG study found that fish and seafood replaced birds as the most popular animals for release.
Summary
| Study |
HKU (2005) |
KFBG (2010) |
| Organisations that released animals |
78 (34%) |
14 (36%) |
|
Organisations that did not release animals |
151 (66%) |
25 (64%) |
| Animals released | HKU (2005) | KFBG (2010) |
| Birds only | 17 (22%) | 0 |
| Fish and seafood | 16 (21%) | 8 (57%) |
| Birds, fish and seafood | 29 (37%) | 4 (29%) |
| Other | 4 (5%) | 0 |
| Total | 78 (100%) | 14 (100%) |
2005: HKU Survey
The “Religious Release of Birds in Hong Kong” (Chan 2006) is the most detailed study of the practice in Hong Kong.
© Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden
2010: KFBG Survey
Researchers at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden followed up the HKU study with a telephone survey with Buddhist organisations in 2010.
• 39 agreed to be surveyed: 14 practiced animal released; 25 did not.
• Though most organisations said the quantity depended on the number of participants and donations, one organisation released about 500kg (half a tonne) of animals.
• Favourite places for such activities - locations near Sai Kung, Tsing Ma Bridge, Stanley, North Point Pier, coast of Lamma Island
• Due to earlier outbreaks of avian flu in Hong Kong, this study found that fish and seafood have replaced birds as the most popular animals for release.
There are no figures regarding animals used for “mercy release” activities.
© Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden
According to an HKU study, prior to the outbreak of avian flu in 2006, it was estimated up to 1 million birds were being imported into Hong Kong for release.
Based on their uniform size, it is suspected that the red-eared sliders released in Tsuen Wan (see above) were bred for food.
Hong Kong imports a huge number of animals every year for the pet and food trade. In 2014, Hong Kong imported over 800,000 reptiles for the pet trade and more than 54,000 kilograms of turtles for the food trade.
Red-eared sliders are reared in the millions to supply the food trade in Asia. In Hong Kong, turtle shells are often used to make turtle jelly (guai lin gou/龜苓膏).
With red-eared sliders being sold for as little as HK$20 each, the easy availability of large numbers of cheap animals makes “mercy release” a very profitable business.
Don’t be duped into believing that “mercy release” is an act of compassion. Many of these animals are bred for the food trade and are chosen for release as they are available cheaply in large quantities. Others are hunted from the wild in large numbers, transported long distances in cramped conditions and many often die after release.
“It may seem bizarre that a religious practice intended to increase the welfare of birds should result in cruel treatment on such a massive scale, but individual releasers do not see the whole process and are thus able to believe that they are releasing birds from cruel confinement to a better life in nature.
Many do not realize that they are the cause of the confinement and that few birds survive after release.”
– “Religious Release of Birds in Hong Kong”, pp 229
© Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden
One example of the diseases such releases bring is the Chytrid fungus, a deadly fungus that kills frogs all over the world. The Chytrid fungus has already been found in food frog trade in Hong Kong.
Analysis of food frog shipments from Hong Kong to the US found that 4 out of 5 shipments carried the Chytrid Fungus.
The release of thousands of such frogs into the country side means Hong Kong’s frog species are all at risk, including the endangered Romer’s Tree Frog.
© School of Biological Sciences, HKU
When aggressive species like the red-eared sliders do survive, they expose Hong Kong’s native populations to disease and compete with them for survival.
One of the world’s top ten invasive species, the red eared slider has now replaced local turtle species as the most common turtle in Hong Kong’s country parks.
© Allen ToA popular species for release, the Sabah grouper or “Lung Dan” (沙巴龍躉) is cross-bred from two species for the food trade. It does not exist in the wild.
According to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF HK), these fast-growing, carnivorous fish are now living in Hong Kong’s reefs, with unknown consequences for local fish species.
For more information on guidelines for animal release, please see the International Union For Conservation’s（IUCN）Guidelines on Conservation Translocations
Currently, the release of animals causing their suffering is only prosecutable under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance Cap. 169. It carries a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment and a $200,000 fine. However, once animals have been released, it is hard to prove.
In 2014, Taiwan implemented legislation to ban the unauthorised release of any animal into the wild, after decades of struggling with the ecological damage caused by widespread dumping of animals by the “mercy release” industry.
In 2005, it was already estimated that 20 million animals were being released into Taiwan’s countryside every year and the religious release business was valued at US$6 million.
Taiwan, Macau and Singapore have legislation that bans the unauthorised release of animals. The SPCA believes that there should be similar legislation in Hong Kong.
Buying animals to “release” just increases the demand and consequent suffering.
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